


Dreaming Awake

by todd_casil



Category: I Feel Sick, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Squee (Comics)
Genre: How Do I Tag, but i got permission, i didnt write this, i dont understand, it really fucking good though, umm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 06:07:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 31
Words: 68,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6893176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/todd_casil/pseuds/todd_casil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Warning: The following contains coarse language, violence, and extreme amounts of awesomeness. Please prepare your mind for blowing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I Did Not Write This http://murderousmanic18.deviantart.com/ Did

Johnny taps his foot to the Mozart piece playing over his headphones. He looks up and watches as the elevator slowly makes its way to the bottom floor. It was all the way on the fortieth floor so this will take a while.  
He barely notices the door open behind him. He barely notices the large group walk up to him. He does however notice the slight, metallic click.  
He looks behind him at the group of ten men. Most of them are black, a couple of them are white. They’re all wearing unnecessarily baggy clothes and are packing heat. Just stereotypical gang members.  
The one in the front of the pack is pointing a gun into Johnny’s back. They either want the elevator for themselves or are trying to mug him.  
He doesn’t bother asking.  
He sighs tiresomely and looks around the small room to make sure there are no cameras or witnesses. None. They’re completely alone.  
The gang member says something, most likely a threat. Johnny ignores him as he reaches into his coat. In a flash of black and silver, he whips around and drives his knife into the man’s stomach.  
Less than two minutes later, the gun slides through a puddle of blood and bumps against the wall. Johnny wipes the blood off his knife onto a gang member’s shirt. He then sticks it into his jacket, along with his soiled gloves. As soon as he pulls on a new pair, the elevator finally arrives. He steps through the doors, hits the button for the twenty-fifth floor, and leaves the gory scene behind, to be discovered but a horror-struck civilian.  
It’s been over a year since Johnny left his house. He’s spent the year traveling around North America, sightseeing, staying in cheap hotels, and eating all kinds of foods.  
The elevator stops on his floor and he steps into the hall. He grabs his key card as he reaches his room and opens the door. His room is small with one tacky bed, a cheap TV, and a small bathroom. Still, he enjoys it.  
More than anything, Johnny’s reason for travelling was to teach himself to lose his basic human emotions and urges. He’s had a much harder time than he'd like to admit. But he did accomplish a little bit. He managed to lose his useless human emotions, such as love, jealousy, sadness, and even happiness. Granted he still laughs at things that he finds funny, cries at things he finds sad, and his temper hasn’t gotten any better. But that he can live with that.  
As for his urges, well those were much harder to lose than his emotions. But he managed to do it. He doesn’t feel attracted to anyone- though he rarely did before- he only eats when he wants to, not when his stomach tells him to- but he barely ate enough before- and he doesn’t feel lonely anymore- but he does enjoy talking to nice people.  
Johnny yawns as he lies down on his bed and stares blankly at the ceiling. The biggest change would probably be his sleeping pattern. A year ago, before he gained any real headway in his travels, he realized that his body is human, and no matter what he does, it’ll always be human. So he decided that if he doesn’t want his body to expire before he’s ready, he should try to take care of it. At least a little bit.  
So he returned to the city for a few weeks and met with a sleep therapist. She taught him that sleep is one of the most essential aspects to keeping a body alive. She also taught him that the best way to gain sleep is to keep a constant sleep schedule; that means to go to sleep and to wake up the same time every day.  
Since Johnny never liked sleeping, he decided to take baby steps. First he slept once every two months. Then once every month, once every two weeks, now he’s down to once a week.  
He learned that it’s not the sleeping he doesn’t like; he actually enjoys disappearing from the world for a few hours. What he really hates are the dreams. He can never tell if his dream was real or not, even after he woke up. It always takes him a couple minutes, and those few terrifying moments is what he really hates.  
Johnny sits up and rubs his eyes, deciding he should probably shower. As he walks to the bathroom, he catches his reflection in the television screen. He examines his face, checking to see if there’s any blood. He starts to continue to the bathroom, when out of the corner of his eye, he sees something that stops him in his tracks: a small, Styrofoam cut-out with swirls in his eyes and ‘FUCK’ printed across his shirt.  
Johnny spins around and looks around the room, but sees nothing. He looks back at the TV and sees nothing but his reflection.  
He runs his hand through his hair and grunts. He does one last check around the room, and when he decides he’s really alone, he walks into the bathroom and turns the shower on.  
Johnny steps into the tub and lets the warm water drip down his naked body. He grabs one of the little bottles of cheap shampoo and dumps it into his hair, massaging it into his roots. As he washes, he continuously pictures that reflection in his mind. No matter how much he tries to ignore it, it burns through his skull like stomach acid, until the frustration gets to him and he slams his fist into the wall.  
“What the fuck was that?” he shouts just for the sake of shouting.  
He glances at the wall and realizes he cracked the porcelain. He lowers his fist and takes a deep breath. Well, he hasn’t slept or eaten in a couple days. Maybe his brain is losing it a bit.  
But then why would he hallucinate Psycho-Doughboy, of all people?  
Johnny takes another deep breath at a failed attempt to calm his nerves. He turns off the water and steps out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his wet waist.  
He looks up and glances at the mirror in front of him. His face fills with fear and surprise as he sees, standing behind him on the edge of the tub, another Styrofoam cut-out with white eyes and ‘Z?’ on his shirt.  
“Mr. Fuck,” Johnny murmurs and spins around. Again, he sees nothing in the room or anything but his reflection in the mirror.  
Johnny hugs his bare shoulders and quickly leaves the bathroom. After drying himself off with the towel, he pulls on a loose pair of pyjama pants and an old t-shirt, as well as his leather gloves. He sits on his bed and turns on the TV to some cartoon. But no matter how hard he tries, he just can’t focus. He constantly looks around, his paranoia getting the better of him.  
He groans and buries his face into his hands, falling back onto the bed. He closes his eyes and whimpers quietly, “what the fuck was that?”

Johnny sucks on his BrainFreezy and sits back on the park bench. He looks up at the afternoon sky and tunes out all the noise of the surrounding masses.  
The Nightmare. That’s what he decided to call that thing, the thing that lived behind his wall. One year ago that thing escaped when Johnny stopped feeding it blood. Then he died and the universe tore apart or something…  
Anyway, after he came back to life- ?- he checked to see if that thing was still there. It wasn’t, all that was left was a dark hole that he eventually covered up.  
Johnny’s not sure why he decided to call that thing the Nightmare. It’s just that one night he had a dream about that thing. There was something about that dream that made him want to call it the Nightmare. Maybe that it was a nightmare?  
It wasn’t long after he left the city for the second time that he started making sense of all the things that happened to him that year. He soon realized that the Doughboys were connected to the Nightmare. He wasn’t sure how, but something just told him so.  
After that he surmised that as long as the Nightmare was in his wall, it was protecting him. It was because of the Nightmare that he was able to kill without consequences. So when it disappeared, his protection went with it.  
Still societal humans are quite blind. Johnny was able to adapt quickly and remain invisible to the ignorant masses whenever he wanted to. To do so he always wears leather gloves so as not to leave fingerprints on anything. If he does soil his gloves, he replaces them with one of the many he keeps in his trench coat, which he also always wears. He does his best to stay out of the large crowds, and when he does feel the urge to kill someone he always checks to make sure there are no witnesses or cameras. If there are, he deals with them.  
Johnny has not thought about the Nightmare in so long. He didn’t think it was a threat anymore. That was until last night, when he saw the Doughboys in his reflection.  
No matter how much he tries to convince himself that it was just his imagination, he just can’t shake this uneasy feeling. Granted he’s had like five blue raspberry BrainFreezys- they’re limited edition. Still it feels like something is clawing at the back of his skull.  
Johnny sighs and looks away from the sky. He slowly looks around the park with minimal interest. Everyone is in some kind group. Whether it’s couples, families, or friends, everybody is with somebody. Funny how humans feel a need to travel in packs.  
Johnny glances to his left and notices a woman walking with her little daughter. She points at a nearby food stand and tells the little girl to stay here. The girl and waves happily to her mom as she walks to the stand. She then notices Johnny sitting on the bench and sits beside him.  
“Hello. I’m Melissa,” she say happily, “what’s your name?”  
“Johnny,” he replies.  
“Hello, Johnny. You look sad. Are you sad?” she asks.  
“Well, not really sad. More… confused.”  
“What are you confused about?”  
“Um…” He’s not sure if he should bare his soul to a little girl. But he can’t handle keeping it bottled up anymore.  
“Well a year ago I was tormented by these… monsters. They disappeared but now I think they might be back again. And I don’t know what to do,” he sighs.  
“You are scared of monsters?” Melissa asks.  
“Yeah.”  
“You know, whenever I get scared of the monsters hiding under my bed or in my closet, my mommy is always there to help me get rid of them,” she smiles, “do you have a mommy to help you with your monsters?”  
“No, not exactly,” he chuckles, “though you might be onto something, Melissa. I don’t really wanna die again. Dying is so troublesome. But maybe there’s someone who can help me figure out another way to deal with this.”  
Melissa doesn’t quite understand what Johnny is talking about, but smiles all the same.  
“Speaking of mommies, I think yours is looking for you,” Johnny says as he points to Melissa’s mom. She giggles and hops off the bench, running up to her. As they walk by, carrying ice cream in their hands, she waves at Johnny. He smiles and waves back.  
“Ah, the innocence of children,” he sighs. But she really did have a point. Maybe there is someone who can help.  
As he stands up and leaves the park, he suddenly remembers another innocent child, one who used to be his neighbor. He recalls the boy had a teddy bear who protected him from evil things. And the boy was always followed by evil things.  
He smirks and rubs his chin. “I guess it’s about time I return home.”


	2. Chapter

Todd nudges his food slop with his spork. He licks his lips and looks away with disgust. He hasn’t had actual food in so long, and he’s too terrified to eat this slop. He’s scared of what will happen.  
It’s been over a year since his parents abandoned him at the Defective Head Meat Institute, otherwise known as the Crazy House. It took him a while, but he finally realized that is the case: he’s stuck here and he’s never getting out.  
It’s not all bad though. Todd has learned to fit in without actually fitting in. He realized on his first week here that the meds the doctors give the child patients don’t actually fix their problems; they just cover the problem up by making the child half-comatose so he doesn’t notice his problem.  
Todd doesn’t like that, he likes being completely conscious. So he taught himself to act like a zombie whenever the doctors are around. That way they’ll think he’s taking his meds, and not force him to.  
Best of all, Todd still has his best- and only- friend, his teddy bear Shmee.  
The doctors have often tried to take Shmee away from Todd, but he never lets him. He’ll never let Shmee go. Fortunately, the doctors decided to let him keep the bear, since it doesn’t seem like much of a threat.  
Shows what they know.  
“Hungry, Todd?” Shmee asks.  
Todd nods silently, not wanting to draw attention to himself. The guards always protect the doors in the cafeteria, cattle prods at the ready. He’s never been hit by one yet, but he’s seen what happens to those who have.  
“I can sneak out and get you some food tonight if you want. What would you like? Cheese burger and fries?”  
Todd licks his lips, drool already producing in his mouth, and nods again, this time more enthusiastically. Shmee is the whole reason Todd has been able to survive in the Crazy House. Nobody but him sees it, but Shmee can move and talk. He can even sneak out of this building completely undetected and bring back food for the starving boy.  
Even though it seems completely impossible that a teddy bear can move, talk, and pick stuff up, and even more implausible that only Todd can perceive, he’s never once thought of Shmee as fake or a hallucination. Though he’s never asked why only he can see Shmee move, it’s still completely real to him.  
An announcement rings over the intercom. Todd is the only patient who listens, or even hears it. And it surprises him.  
“Todd Casil, please report to the visitor’s room.”  
“Me?” Todd questions. For the first time in a long time, he forgets about his zombie illusion as well as all the guards and focuses on the slight bit of hope now rising within him.  
“Who could be visiting me?” he asks Shmee, “my parents? Maybe someone has decided to adopt me? But how would they know about me?”  
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Shmee comments from the boy’s hand.  
Todd doesn’t reply as he enters the visitor’s room. It’s a small room with a couch, a chair, a table, and two armed guards at the only door. The first thing Todd notices are the open windows. He didn’t think any windows opened in this place.  
The second thing he notices is his visitor. The messy hair, the dark eyes, the lanky figure, that smirk.  
His knees start shaking, mostly out of surprise, and he steps back. Shmee growls and quickly runs up Todd’s arm to sit on his shoulder.  
“It…it’s you,” Todd murmurs.  
“Hey, Squee. Long-time no see,” Johnny chimes, waving happily to the boy.  
“Johnny, the scary neighbor man”  
The name doesn’t faze Johnny even a bit. He just smiles and steps closer, slowly and carefully like he’s going up to a small animal.  
“You look...not all that good. This place hasn’t been treating you that well,” Nny comments.  
Todd starts to say something but Shmee cuts him off by nudging his cheek and pointing at the guards. They’re watching Todd with eagle eyes.  
Todd gulps and walks to the farthest corner of the room, hoping the guards won’t hear him. Johnny watches with curiosity and follows him.  
“What are you doing here?” Todd asks quietly.  
“Looking for you, of course. I went by your old house but nobody lives there anymore. Then I remembered I saw you here about a year ago,” Johnny explains.  
“Nobody lives there? Then they really did leave me,” Todd sighs. He knew they left him, but the proof that it’s really true hits him hard. Shmee sighs and pats the boy’s head. Johnny just lifts his eyebrow, confused.  
“Never mind,” he grunts, “why were you looking for me?”  
This time it’s Johnny’s turn to grow wary. But he’s not nervous about the guards, even though they’re the only two other people here. His eye suddenly twitches and he rubs his right temple, his face twisted in pain, annoyance, and… fear.  
“Have you been hearing voices at all? I mean except for Shmee’s?” he asks.  
“No… why?” Todd asks wearily.  
“Over a year ago these… monsters were tormenting me,” he explains, “I managed to lose them- or at least the worst ones- after I died… at least I think I died.”  
“Anyway about two days ago, the two worst things I never wanted to see again showed up in my reflection. The day after I was driving home, and I started hearing voices. Voices that I haven’t heard in over a year. I’m still hearing them. They’re faint and hard to understand, but I think they mentioned… you.”  
Todd grips Shmee to his chest and stares at the floor. He grips his arms to keep himself from shaking.  
When Todd doesn’t say anything, Johnny kneels down so they’re at eye level. “Listen, Squee, those voices are dangerous. I don’t think Shmee will be able to protect you, and these people will be beyond useless.”  
“You don’t know that,” Todd says quietly.  
“Squee, you don’t belong here! You’re not crazy. I know that and you know that. The only reason these people don’t know that is because they’re the crazy ones and they feed off originality. Societal humans take anyone with imagination and suck it out of them. Why do you think those meds turn everyone into zombies? So they can’t think anymore. This institution wasn’t made to help people with mental problems, it was made to give people mental problems.”  
“I can take you out of here. I’m a legal adult, I could adopt you. Temporarily at least. We can help each other deal with these monsters. What do you think?” Nny asks.  
“Don’t listen to him,” Shmee snaps, “he’s dangerous. He’ll just cause more trouble for you.”  
Todd squeezes Shmee and glares at the floor. “You’re… you’re wrong. Monsters? Voices? That’s what’s really crazy. And even if you’re right, Shmee can protect me from anything.”  
“Maybe, but these monsters are real and they’re dangerous. I know, I’ve seen them. They can easily hurt you, Squee,” Johnny insists.  
“How do you know they’re not just in your head? And don’t call me Squee,” he growls, “my name is Todd.”  
“Hey!” one of the guards snap, “is there a problem over there?”  
Johnny stands up and glares at the guards. Then he looks at Todd and lifts his eyebrow. He’s staring at the floor, his shoulders trembling.  
“Very well,” Johnny shrugs and turns around, “this is your choice after all. If you don’t want to come with me, you don’t have to. Who knows, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the monsters are only tormenting me.”  
“I’ll be going now. I still have to go to my house and do some grocery shopping.” He waves as he walks away, “later, Squee- oh, I mean, Todd.”  
Todd stares after Johnny with tired eyes, glad he’s gone but feeling somewhat depressed. He hugs Shmee and loosens up, allowing his body freedom to tremble.  
The bell rings over the intercom. Todd lumbers past the guards, his zombie ruse taking over. He eventually joins up with the other children and follows them back to the rooms.  
The guards close the door behind Todd as he steps into the cell. He’s one of the few patients that don’t have to wear straightjackets, so he’s free to move around his cell. But there isn’t a lot to do. It’s just a white, padded cell with a soft bed sticking out of the wall and a locked, metal door.  
So the prisoners don’t rot, each room has small, barred window. Shmee is able to easily slip through the bars and fall to the ground, even though they’re two floors up. And he can climb back up with food in hand to feed his starving boy.  
“You did the right thing, Todd,” Shmee comments, “Johnny is nothing but trouble. You would be in more danger if you hung around him.”  
“I know, Shmee,” Todd sighs, “but then why do I feel so… sad and lonely?”  
“It’s just because you’re hungry. I’ll get you some food,” he says and jumps onto the window.  
“Okay. Be back soon,” he whimpers.  
Shmee waves to the boy as he slips through the bars. Todd sighs and lies down on the bed, curling up into a loose ball. He closes his eyes, preparing for sleep.  
“Well, you’re a cute one.”  
Todd’s eyes shoot open. He sits up and looks around for the owner of the voice, but sees no one.  
“I must admit, I admire the way you drove Nny away like the beast he is,” a slightly different voice says, “but you would’ve done well to listen to him. It may not seem like it, but he always knows what he’s talking about.”  
“Are you nuts?” a deeper, huskier voice snorts, “if he had gone with Nny, he would be in even more danger.”  
“Maybe. But at least he would have freedom and horizons to run towards. Here he is completely trapped,” the second voice sighs.  
“Indeed. Not to mention he has no outlets for his imagination,” a high-pitched, female voice giggles.  
“Yes, he’ll be ours in no time,” the first voice chortles.  
The four voices laugh together in Todd’s head. He trembles and grips his ears, panting with fear.  
“Where are you? Who are you?” he asks quietly.  
“What a silly question. We’re in your head of course,” the second voice points out, “as for who we are, I’m Mr. Fuck.”  
“Psycho Doughboy,” the first voice.  
“Reverend Meat,” the husky voice.  
“Sickness,” the female.  
“It’s nice to meet you,” all four of them giggle.


	3. Chapter 3

Todd lies on his bed, his arm hanging off the side and his eyelids half closed. This proves his suspicions; the pills really do put you in a half-comatose state. He cannot think of anything and the only thing his body does is breath and blink, and it’s barely doing that.  
Shmee is sitting next to Todd’s head, gently stroking his hair, but he doesn’t notice. He can’t feel anything.  
He decided to take his meds this morning, in the hopes that in a half-comatose state the voices would stop. He was wrong. He can’t think, he can’t move, and he can barely even see. But he still hears their voices.  
He managed to give each voice a personality. Psycho Doughboy really wants to capture Todd, though he’s not entirely sure why. Mr. Fuck is the opposite; he doesn’t want to capture Todd, at least not without a fight.  
Reverend Meat and Sickness are a little harder to understand. Meat seems to like human urges; he’s always telling Todd to eat more or comments on how hot one of the nurses is.  
Sickness doesn’t actually have a definable personality. But she does spend most of her time convincing Todd to join them.  
He doesn’t understand what they mean when they say “join us” or “you’ll be ours soon”. Who exactly would he be joining? For what reason? They talk a lot but they never answer these questions.  
Todd groans and buries his face into the bed. The meds are starting to wear off. His head is exploding.  
“Shmee,” he croaks.  
“Yes?” Shmee asks.  
“I have to escape,” he states, “Johnny was right, this place can’t help me.”  
“Well, I’m all for escaping. But how? And where will you go?”  
“I’ll worry about the where after I escape. As for the how…” Todd sits up and rubs his head. He notices the slot in his door open up and a cup of pills slide through. He wretches and looks away, disgusted by the very sight.  
“The visitor’s room. That room seems to be the only one with open windows. It must be to keep the visitors comfortable. I can probably squeeze through one and escape into the grounds,” Todd rambles.  
“But it’s on the second floor,” Shmee points out.  
“That’s okay. It’s not that high a fall… right?” he asks uncertainly.  
“Well, you might suffer a bit of bruising but you should survive. But how will you get there?”  
“At lunch, when they let me out of my cell, first chance I get I’ll make a break for it,” he concludes.  
“Sounds risky. You think you’re up for it?”  
“I have to escape, Shmee. Johnny may be crazy and scary, but he’s right. I don’t belong here. And I’ve been here far too long.”  
“Well, I’ll follow you everywhere you go,” Shmee grins.  
“Thanks, Shmee,” Todd smiles.  
The bell rings, signaling lunch. Todd stands up and glares at the door as he waits for it to open.  
“Go time,” he growls and rests Shmee on top of his head.  
“Good luck, Todd,” Shmee says.  
“Not Todd,” he smirks, “Squee.”  
The door opens. Squee puts on his zombie ruse and marches out, joining the rest of the children. He keeps his head low but examines his surroundings discreetly, looking for the hall that leads to the visitor’s room. They should pass it.  
There! Squee’s heart rams in his chest as they walk closer and closer to the hallway. It’s now or never.  
Without giving himself a second for hesitation, he squeaks to the right and dashes down the hall. The guards aren’t expecting it and are too taken aback to do anything. But it doesn’t last long and they are soon chasing him.  
If it were anyone else, the fast, trained guards would’ve caught him a long time ago. But Squee is special. He has spent his whole life running from bullies, his parents, crazed animal, or monsters. His body has adapted to accelerate faster than his pursuers.  
That would be the case, if his mind wasn’t still swimming from the effects of the drugs. His legs are shaking and he’s having a hard time maintaining a constant speed.  
“Come on, Squee,” Shmee cheers, “there’s the room.”  
Squee smashes through the door. The visitor’s room is empty, there aren’t even any guards. He quickly closes the door and rushes over to one of the windows. He grunts and groans as he forces it open. It’s really heavy.  
Just as he starts to climb through, the guards kick down the door. Squee squeaks as his fingers slip from the window sill and he falls to the ground.  
He groans and rolls over onto his stomach, coughing up saliva and dirt.  
“Squee, are you okay?” Shmee asks.  
“Yeah,” Squee grunts and stands up. Without looking back, he grabs Shmee and rushes to the road. It’s so close.  
“After him!” he hears someone yell behind him.  
“The guards are coming after you. They have cars,” Shmee warns, “hurry!”  
Squee forces his Jell-O legs to move. He dashes out of the yard and across the street to a nearby alley. He takes random turns, cutting through yards or jumping over fences, not really following any direction, until finally his legs give out behind a fence.  
He pants and leans back, resting his head against the boards. He’s not really sure where he is but he doesn’t care. He’s free!  
His ears prick up at the sound of sirens. Are the police after him? That doesn’t surprise him.  
“No rest for the weary I guess,” Shmee comments.  
“Nope. But from the sounds of things, they don’t know where I am,” Squee says, “so I don’t have to run anymore. Now, which way should I go?”  
“I don’t know. None of this looks familiar to me.”  
“Yeah, me neither.”  
“Go straight!” D-boy demands.  
“No, no, go left,” Mr. Eff argues.  
“You’re both wrong. He needs to go right,” Meat says.  
“I think he should just go back. That place was way more fun,” Sickness giggles.  
“They’re so loud,” Squee sighs and decides to just go straight. He doesn’t really want to listen to any of them, but since they never agree on anything, he doesn’t have a choice.  
Squee spends about three hours walking around aimlessly, avoiding busy streets and ducking behind objects whenever someone or something suspicious shows up. The voices spend the whole time arguing about which way he should go. He does his best to ignore them and picks his own direction, or follows Shmee.  
Finally, just as the sun starts to set, he reaches a familiar street: his old neighborhood.  
Squee forgets about the danger and walks down the street in plain view, as he heads for house number 779. He stands at the end of the walk, staring at the dark house. There’s no sign of life anywhere, all the windows are dark and the curtains are drawn, there’s no car in the driveway. It’s completely empty.  
Squee sighs miserably and stares at the ground. He always knew his parents abandoned him, but it stills hurts.  
He’s suddenly snaps out of his thoughts at the sound of sirens. The police are coming down the street!  
Squee looks around frantically for a place to hide, his eyes falling a nearby house, a house that as a kid he did his very best to avoid. He swallows hard and runs up the walk, not even pausing as he bursts through and slams it shut, panting hard.  
“Well, well, well.” Squee’s blood runs cold as the owner walks into the living room from the kitchen, a big smirk on his face. “Don’t people know how to knock anymore?”  
“Johnny,” Squee breathes. He rushes over to him, fiddling with Squee in his hands. “I’m really sorry I turned you away. You’re right. I’m starting to hear these voices and the meds weren’t helping me.”  
“You can hear them clearly?” Johnny asks. Squee nods. “Yeah, me too. They’re getting stronger. But why did you come here?”  
“I escaped. I didn’t know where else to go. The police are after me,” he explains frantically just as there’s a harsh knock on the front door. He squeaks and ducks behind the couch. “You won’t turn me in, will you?”  
“I guess we’ll find out together, won’t we?” Johnny smirks as he walks over to the door. Squee swallows hard and peeks over the arm of the couch. He can’t see the visitors, but he knows they’re cops.  
“Excuse us, sir, but have you seen this boy?” one of the cops asks, showing Johnny a picture of Squee’s mug shot, “he recently escaped and we must detain him.”  
Johnny makes a show of examining the picture with great concern, though on the inside he’s laughing at how surprised the boy looks. He shakes his head innocently, “no, I haven’t, officers.”  
“Very well. If you do, please call us at the station,” the second cop demands as they leave the yard.  
“Of course,” Johnny nods then closes the door, “fucking cops, nothing but idiots.”  
“You… didn’t turn me in,” Squee says in disbelief as he stands up.  
“Of course not. How could I? I’m not that evil,” he shrugs as he sits on the couch, “so, what’s your plan?”  
“I don’t know. I guess… to help you get rid of these voices,” he says uncertainly.  
“No,” Johnny says plainly and stands up.  
“What? But wasn’t that why you came to see me?”  
“Originally, yes. But I’ve thought about it and I decided it’s a bad idea. You’ll just get hurt,” he explains as he starts to walk to the kitchen.  
Squee suddenly reaches out and grabs Johnny’s arm. He turns and looks at the boy with surprise, anger, and…fear in his eyes. Squee senses the danger and instantly lets go but he doesn’t back off.  
“Please let me help. I’ll do anything I can. They’re just so loud and annoying,” he complains.  
“Look, Squee- Todd,” Johnny groans.  
“Squee. You can call me Squee,” he says.  
Johnny looks at him with surprise. The boy is looking back at him with big eyes, but there’s a fire somewhere behind those large pupils. He may not be fighting material but he’s determined nonetheless.  
Johnny sighs, “fine.”  
“Really?” Squee chirps.  
“Yeah,” he nods and rubs his head, “I’ll explain everything tomorrow, but until then you should probably shower and get some sleep.”  
“I can stay here?”  
“We don’t really have a choice. Besides that’s what I said. I’ll let you stay here until we defeat the Nightmare… er, the voices.”  
Squee smiles and nods, “okay.” He looks down at his prison clothes and asks, “um, do you have any clothes I could wear?”  
“I guess tomorrow I could take you to,” Johnny shudders, “the mall. But in the meantime I’ll find you some clothes to wear tonight. Come on, I’ll take you to the bathroom.”  
Johnny leads Squee down a short hallway that only has four doors, one of which is probably a closet. He opens a door on the right wall, revealing a large, rather clean bathroom. He quickly turns on the shower for Squee and turns to leave.  
“I’ll find some clothes for you. You just wash up,” he commands as he closes the door.  
Squee rests Shmee on top of the toilet and quickly strips out of his prison clothes. As he starts to step into the tub, Shmee voices his thoughts.  
“This is a bad idea,” he grunts.  
“I thought you’d say that,” Squee comments as the warm water drips down his thin body, soothing him with relief.  
“Johnny is dangerous. You’ll just get into more trouble.”  
“Maybe you’re right, Shmee. But I don’t have anywhere else to go,” he points out, “besides Johnny is the only hope I have of getting rid of these voices.”  
Shmee sighs, “well, I guess I have to agree with you on that one. Unfortunately I’m useless at the moment and there’s no one else who can help you.”  
“Exactly. So stop worrying. Just relax. We’re finally free,” Squee laughs, letting the water spill into his mouth.  
There’s a small knock on the door and Johnny peeks in. “Squee, I found some clothes for you. Sorry, they might be a…little big,” he mutters as he rests the folded bundle next to the bear.  
“Okay, thank you,” Squee says as he washes his hair with the plain shampoo. Johnny quickly leaves without another word.  
Squee takes his time in the shower, enjoying the warmth and cleanliness. He shuts it off when his skin starts getting a little to prune-y and grabs a nearby towel, quickly drying off. He unfolds the clothes and slips them on, not seeing the size until they’re on.  
“A ‘little’ big?” Shmee snorts. Squee stares at himself in the mirror and smiles bashfully. Both the pants and the shirt are way too long for him. The shirt could be mistaken for an unstylish cocktail dress the way it nearly reaches his knees and the sleeves on both the shirt and pants are at least four inches too long.  
“Oh, well. At least they’re comfy,” Squee shrugs as he rolls up the sleeves and picks up Shmee. They leave the bathroom and walk over to the living room. Johnny is sitting on the couch, his elbows on his knees as he rubs his temples. He looks up and exclaims with surprise.  
“Wow. You’re really small,” he comments.  
“Am not. You’re just really long,” Squee retorts.  
“Granted,” Johnny shrugs and stands up, “are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?”  
“No, thanks. I’m afraid I’ll get sick if I eat anything right now,” he mutters as he rubs his stomach, “I just wanna go to sleep for now.”  
“Sure. Come with me,” Johnny says and leads him back down the hallway. He opens the first door on the left, revealing a large, dark room. There are no windows and it’s rather empty, except for a small wardrobe on the far corner, a closet on the wall next to the door, and a bed in plain, white sheets in front of the door.  
“This was meant to be my bedroom when I first moved into this house, but I’ve never used it,” Johnny explains, “I don’t sleep very often and when I do it’s never in that bed. So you can use it.”  
“Thanks,” Squee yawns as he sits on the bed. The sheets are a little dusty but feel kind of soft.  
“Um… okay, good night,” Johnny says uncertainly as he closes the door.  
“Night,” Squee mutters as he climbs into bed. He buries his face into the soft pillow and snuggles up to Shmee, pulling the thin blanket up to his chin. He smiles and sighs happily  
It’s obvious from the feel that the sheets have never been washed, but have never really been dirty either. If anyone else were in the bed, they would smell dust and mildew. But to Squee, it’s a happy smell.  
The smell of freedom.


	4. Chapter 4

“Ugh, the mall.”  
Johnny snarls with disgust as he, Squee, and Shmee enter through the automatic doors. Squee smiles as he holds Shmee to his chest. The mall is busy today. He’s excited about seeing so many people today.  
“I like it. After being locked up for over a year, it’s nice to see so much freedom again,” Squee comments.  
“I envy your innocence,” Nny sighs, “but the mall is a revolting place with filth is every corner. Cliques trashing other cliques, dysfunctional families, and indiscreet couples exchanging saliva everywhere you look. It is truly where evil comes to hang out.”  
“Evil, huh? So what does that make us?”  
“Innocent bystanders, much like the few others here who only wish to shop for supplies and nothing more. But even they get caught in the crossfires of the evil that resides here.”  
Squee blinks as he stares up at Johnny with wonder. “You know, you’re really smart in a spooky kind of way.”  
“Really? No one’s ever told me that before,” he comments, “anyway, let’s pick you up some clothes and leave this place before I get the urge to slice someone’s throat open.”  
Squee smiles. A year ago he would’ve been shaking in terror at Johnny’s statement, but for some reason he doesn’t feel scared anymore. Nervous, yes, but not scared. “Sounds good.”  
Johnny lifts his eyebrow curiously at the boy, slightly bewildered at the reaction. But he doesn’t question it. He just follows him through the hall.  
Squee leads them into a random clothing store. Neither of them looks at the name. Johnny leans against the wall and watches Squee with a blank stare as he peruses the racks. Sometimes he’ll ask Shmee what he thinks, regardless of passersby. Nny finds himself admiring how the boy doesn’t seem to care about what others think of him.  
Squee grabs a handful of different clothes and quickly runs into a change room. After a few minutes of trying different stuff on and admiring himself in the mirror, he changes into black jeans and a dark purple shirt with a smiley face on it.  
“I like the colour,” Johnny comments as the boy steps out.  
“I want these ones,” Squee chirps as he shows Nny his bundle of clothes.  
“Fine, put it on the counter,” he says as he pulls a wad of cash out of his tight pockets. The clothes cost almost two hundred dollars. Squee worries for a minute that Nny will be mad, the same way his parents were whenever they had to buy stuff for him. But he doesn’t even bat an eye as he hands the cashier the cash.  
They stuff the clothes into two plastic bags, along with the clothes Johnny lent Squee last night, and leave the store.  
“I guess now we should buy you some shoes,” Johnny points out.  
“If you don’t mind,” Squee nods. He’s wearing an old pair of sneakers Johnny found in his basement. They’re at least three sizes too big on his little feet; he keeps stumbling.  
They enter a sports store and head straight for the shoe aisle. Johnny grumbles angrily at the scent of new rubber and waits for Squee to pick a pair.  
Squee picks a pair of plain grey shoes, with thick black soles and a black buckle. The top of the shoe sits right under his ankle bones. He doesn’t like it when shoes cover his ankles. He runs faster when they’re exposed.  
Johnny quickly tears off the price tag and pays for the shoes, throwing the old pair in a nearby trash bin. As they start to leave, Squee catches his reflection in a window and smiles. Even though it’s only been a year, he looks a little grown up, like a teenager, in his new outfit. He clutches Shmee to his chest and races up to Johnny, a big smile on his face.  
“Well, this was a productive day,” Johnny comments, “and it’s only noon.”  
“I’m sorry everything was so expensive,” Squee says sheepishly.  
“It’s fine. Money doesn’t matter to me,” he shrugs.  
“You got a lot of it though. Where did you get all of your money?”  
“I’m hungry. Are you hungry? Let’s get lunch,” Johnny suggests as he points to the food court, completely ignoring Squee’s question.  
“Kay,” Squee smiles and trots after him. They order French fries and hamburgers from a fast food stand and sit at a small table. Squee scarfs down his food, relishing the taste of unhealthy, processed foods. It’s been too long since he ate like this.  
“Um, Johnny? I have to go the bathroom. Can you watch Shmee?” Squee asks as he stands up, resting Shmee on the table.  
“Uh, yeah,” Johnny mutters as he glances at the teddy bear. It could just be his imagination, but the bear almost looks angry about being with Nny. His usually big smile is wavering and his large eyes look cross. Though Nny isn’t all that happy about being with the bear either.  
“What are you looking at?” he mutters. He grabs the bear’s head and turns him around so he’s facing the other way. After he finishes his burger, he glances back at the bear and notices him staring at him again.  
“You know, you’re really creepy,” Nny comments, “I don’t sit around staring at you.”  
He rests his chin on the table so they’re eye level and pokes the bear’s nose. “What are you saying right now? Squee can hear you right? So why can’t I?”  
“Hey, check out this faggot!”  
“Huh?” Johnny sits up and glances behind him at three stereotypical douchebags [A/N, you all know what they look like I’m sure]. His asshole-meter starts going haywire as they smirk at him.  
“Talking to your teddy bear, eh, freak?” the leader of the group laughs, “what a total faggot. And what’s with the extra food? Do you feed your bear too?”  
He starts to reach for Shmee as he laughs with his buddies. Johnny’s arm suddenly shoots and wraps his sharp fingers around his forearm. He squeezes hard and the man winces and tries to pull away. “Hey, hey what are you doing?”  
Johnny takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. Easy, Johnny. You’re in a public area. Plus there’s Squee to worry about. Calm down. There you go.  
Johnny reluctantly releases the man’s arm. If he wanted to he could snap it with a flick of his wrist, but he has to control himself. If he was by himself he would totally mutilate this fucker, public place or not. But he’s with Squee, and for reasons not even he understands, he doesn’t want to cause him any trouble.  
He turns around and shoots the assholes a glare that would make a Vietnam War vet wet his pants. “Beat it.”  
They flinch and quickly scurry away without another word. Johnny then sighs and leans back in his chair. When he glances at Shmee, he sees he’s still staring at him but his face looks softer.  
Johnny grunts and rubs his sore eyes. He feels tired. He just wants to go home and watch cartoons.  
“I’m back. What’s wrong? Did something happen?”  
Johnny looks up at Squee. His wide eyes are full of concern.  
“No,” he lies and stands up, “come on, let’s go. We’re done here.”  
“Okay,” Squee nods as he picks up Shmee and follows Johnny out of the food court.  
As they walk down the hall, Squee suddenly stops when he notices something in the window of one of the shops. He smiles and walks up to it. “A dream catcher.”  
“Johnny, could you buy me this?” he asks hesitantly.  
“Why?” Johnny asks.  
“Dream catchers keep the nightmares away. My parents wouldn’t buy me one cause they thought it as a waste of money, but I don’t think it is,” he explains.  
“Nightmares? Hm, okay,” Johnny shrugs and walks into the store. Squee picks a pretty red dream catcher with gems hanging from bottom. After Johnny pays, he rests it in one of the bags and they leave without any more interruptions.  
On the way home, Johnny glances at Squee in the passenger seat and asks, “do those dream catchers really work?”  
“I don’t know, I just read about them in some book when I was younger. I have nightmares a lot so I always wanted to try them,” Squee replies.  
“Nightmares, huh,” he mutters.  
“Do you have nightmares too?”  
“Sometimes, but I rarely sleep so it doesn’t matter.”  
“Are they scary?”  
“Aren’t nightmares supposed to be?”  
“Well, I also heard that if you talk about them, then they’ll get better,” Squee says excitedly.  
“Yeah, that sounds good. But I never really liked talking to other people,” Johnny shrugs.  
“You can talk to me. I mean if you want.”  
Johnny looks at Squee with surprise. He’s looking at his feet, embarrassed. Johnny groans and glares out the windshield, his hands gripping the steering wheel.  
“Yeah, well, I mean, if the nightmares are really bad, you can talk to me about them too,” he mutters quietly.  
Squee looks at him with surprise then smiles happily. “Thank you.”  
Johnny chews the inside of his cheek and stares with all his might at the road, refusing to even glance at the boy. This is way too weird and new. Why did he even say that?  
They drive the rest of the way home in comfortable silence. Though it’s an odd feeling for Johnny. He’s never felt this comfortable with someone else before.  
When they finally make it home, Johnny collapses on his couch and rubs his forehead. Squee carries his bags inside and sits beside him.  
“Can you tell me about those voices now?” he asks.  
“Hm? Oh, alright,” Johnny nods and stands up, “follow me.”  
He leads him back down the hallway, to the last door on the left side, next to his bedroom. “I’m only speaking out of my own experience here so don’t expect them to act the same with you. They do have their own personalities after all.”  
“They introduced themselves to you?” he asks.  
“Yes,” Squee nods.  
“Good, that makes it easier.” He opens the door, revealing a plain, empty white room. On the wall to the right of the door sits a dark brown dresser and broken mirror. Sitting on the dresser is a porcelain statue of a Bub’s Burger Boy and a picture of a dead rabbit’s head. Next to it are two Styrofoam cut-outs, pinned to the wall by large knives. One of them has plain white eyes with ‘Z?’ on his shirt; the other has swirly eyes and ‘Fuck’ on his shirt. Both have ghoulish smiles.  
“This is Reverend Meat,” Johnny says, pointing at the statue, “these two are the Doughboys, Mr. Fuck,” the white-eyed one, “and Psycho Doughboy,” the swirly-eyed one.  
“You mean they’re real?” Squee squeaks.  
“Well, they used these bodies at one time,” Johnny says, “but one day I accidently committed involuntary suicide by taking a bullet to the head. Then this potato-headed asshole kicked me to death. Anyway, when I woke up Mr. Eff and D-boy weren’t talking anymore. But then I met Reverend Meat and he kept talking to me. And then I left home to start my soul-searching, emotion-losing journey and when I came back, he wasn’t moving. I can only hear his voice in my head.”  
“Wait a minute, are you saying you died once?” Squee asks.  
“Well, I might’ve died but then again I might’ve also just been asleep and had a really fucked up dream,” he explains, “the point is, when I woke up the Doughboys were no longer around. So the fact that I can hear them again is bad news.”  
“Okay. What about that picture?”  
“Oh, that’s Nailbunny. She was kind of like my voice reason I guess. But she disappeared around the time the Doughboys started moving,” he replies.  
“They started moving?”  
“Yeah, a few weeks before I ‘died’. They were gaining more power over me. I’ve only ever seen Meat move once. So just remember, when they start moving, it means we’re in trouble. Hopefully we can find a way to stop them before that happens.”  
“What are they doing to us? How do they gain more power?” Squee asks.  
“That I’m not entirely sure about. But if I had to guess, I’d say they feed on imagination. The only reason I think that is because around the time the Doughboys showed up, I stopped drawing. I used to draw all kinds of pictures but then they appeared and my imagination just stopped. Now I can only kill people in imaginative ways.”  
“Imagination?”  
“Yeah,” Johnny nods the bends down to examine Squee’s face, “you like to write stories, right? If you’re not careful, they might take that away from you.”  
“What? But I love writing stories!” Squee exclaims.  
“Yeah, and I loved drawing. Now it just seems like a faraway dream to me,” he sighs and leaves the room. Squee follows close behind.  
“Hey, what about that female voice, Sickness?” Squee asks.  
“Yeah, I never met her before. It’s possible she could be new, or perhaps connected to someone else. Maybe there’s another person who was tormented by the Nightmare- that’s what I call them,” Johnny rambles.  
“If we could find them, maybe they could help us,” Squee suggests.  
“Yeah, but what’s the chances of us finding them. It’s not like the Nightmare would tell us,” he shrugs.  
“What about when they say things like ‘join us’? What does that mean?”  
“Well, a year ago, before I ‘died’, I had this thing living behind one of the walls on my lower floors. I had to feed it blood to keep it trapped. I’m pretty sure the Doughboys, Reverend Meat, and probably Sickness too are connected to it,” Johnny explains, “when they say ‘join us’ they might mean they what us to join with the monster.”  
“Can- can I see it?” Squee asks nervously.  
“No. You’re not allowed in my basement. That’s my only rule,” Johnny says sternly, “besides, the monster’s gone. All that’s left is a big hole.”  
“Anyway, that’s pretty much all I know. The rest we’ll have to figure out along the way I guess,” he shrugs as he sits on a chair in the kitchen.  
“Well, thanks for explaining it to me,” Squee smiles, “I’m going to put my things away.”  
Johnny yawns and rests his head on the table, resting his eyes for a brief minute.  
“Aw, he’s cute, isn’t he?”  
Johnny’s eyes shoot open and he sits up. He grips his ears and rests his elbow on the table. That was D-boy.  
“Indeed. The complete opposite of you, Nny. You better hope you don’t corrupt his little mind,” Eff giggles.  
“Shut up,” Johnny croaks.  
“You like him, don’t you?” Meat asks, “why else would you protect him like that. You could’ve totally slewed that asshole back at the mall, but you held back for Squee’s sake.”  
“Shut up. Don’t be stupid. He’s just helpful for my cause is all,” Johnny argues.  
“You really should’ve killed him, then. Who cares about Squee? That asshole totally had it coming,” Eff states.  
“Shut up shut up. I kill who I want to kill not who you tell me to kill,” Johnny shouts.  
“But you wanted to kill the guy, but held back for Squee’s safety,” D-boy points out, “not to mention you said he could talk to you about his nightmares. Do you like this boy, Nny?”  
“Of course not. I don’t like anybody. And nobody likes me. It all works out. Now shut up and leave me alone!”  
Johnny has long lost his temper. Why is he so angry? Not even he knows the answer. Maybe it’s because… deep down… he knows they’re… right?  
Johnny whimpers and rests his forehead on the table. In the car and back at the mall, he really did want to protect Squee. Why is that? He’s never wanted to protect anyone, not even himself. What is happening? He should’ve lost these feelings a long time ago.  
“Johnny?” Squee peeks around the corner and into the kitchen, “um, are you okay?”  
Johnny looks up and glares death at the boy. “It’s your fault. It’s your fault I feel like this. You stupid brat. Why can’t you just leave me alone?”  
Squee winces at Johnny’s harsh tone. He looks at the floor and squeezes Shmee to his chest. “Um, I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to make you angry.”  
Squee whimpers and rushes down the hallway into his room. Johnny stands up and stares after him, a strange feeling of guilt washing over him. He rubs the left side of his chest, where his heart should be. He can feel it beating faster. It hasn’t beat like this in a long time.  
Johnny swallows hard and walks out of the kitchen.  
Inside his bedroom, Squee is sitting against the closed door, sobbing into his arms. Why is he crying? His parents used to yell at him like that all time. So why did Johnny’s words hurt him?  
“I told you this was a bad idea,” Shmee points out from beside him, “I told you if you stayed with Johnny, you would just get hurt. He’s bad, Squee, and he’ll just cause you more trouble.”  
Squee sniffles and wipes his eyes. “No, you’re wrong, Shmee. I don’t believe Johnny is all bad. When he yelled at me, it seemed different from when my parents used to yell at me. He seemed almost… scared.”  
Johnny’s hand twitches on the outside of the door. He rests his forehead against the wall and stifles a whimper. Before Squee can notice him, he quickly scurries down the hallway and into the living room.  
Scared. The kid nailed that one. And that thought is much more terrifying.


	5. Chapter 5

Devi and Tenna dance down the dark street to the music playing over their shared earphones. They swallow the last of their beer and smash their cans on their heads.  
The fact that they are in the dangerous part of the city, with the highest crime and murder rate, doesn’t bother them at all. They’re not afraid of criminals, actually criminals should be afraid of them. You don’t mess with these girls.  
“What time is it?” Devi asks as she notices the moon rising higher into the sky.  
“Who the hell knows,” Tenna laughs, “do we have any more beer?”  
“No, those were the last cans,” she replies.  
“Too bad. We should probably head home anyway,” she points out.  
Devi nods and they take a turn to head to their apartments. They walk quietly down the brightly lit street, just enjoying the music.  
Devi stops abruptly and looks behind her, causing Tenna to stumble. “Whuh-what’s wrong?”  
“I don’t know. I thought I… heard something,” she replies.  
“I didn’t hear anything. It’s probably just your imagination,” Tenna shrugs. Devi moans but continues walking.  
This time they both stop together at the echo of a loud footstep. They turn around nervously but don’t see anything.  
They start walking quicker, Tenna putting her earphones back into her pockets. They keep their heads low, just wanting to get home as quickly as possible.  
“Devi.”  
Devi skids to a stop and spins around. That voice was bone chilling and blood freezing. Who was it? She doesn’t recognize it.  
A silhouette suddenly appears in the light of the street lap. It’s small, standing on two feet, and has a ghoulish smile and creepy eyes.  
Whatever it is, it’s not human.  
“What is it?” Tenna asks nervously.  
“I don’t know,” Devi whispers.  
The smile somehow widens as the shadow grows to a terrifying size, but the small body stays the same. It takes a step and the road shutters.  
“It- it’s a monster,” Tenna whimpers. And for the first time since they were kids, they feel pure fear.  
“Come on,” Devi exclaims. They spin around and run down the road, away from the monster. They don’t look back to see if it’s chasing them. They just focus on running.  
They squeal when they hear the echo of another footstep and take a sharp turn. They look around for a place to hide and notice a small shed across the road. They jump at another footstep and run over to the shed without a moment of hesitation.  
Tenna smashes open the door and they slam it close, sweating and trying to catch their impossibly fast breath. They start to relax when they hear the echo of another footstep.  
“Shit, he’s still coming,” Devi growls.  
“Look, there’s stairs,” Tenna exclaims as she points to the back of the shed. There’s an old stairwell that almost looks like it leads into the ground.  
“I don’t know, Tenna,” she mutters.  
“Or you can deal with whatever that monster is,” she suggests as she takes the first step.  
Another footstep causes Devi to nearly jump out of her skin. She runs up to Tenna and they descend the stairs together, holding each other’s arms and comforting each other in a way that only best girlfriends can.  
The deeper they go, the darker it gets until they can’t even see in front of their face. They stumble as they reach ground floor. After a brief pause, they continue their trek. Devi sticks out her arm so she can feel for the end.  
He hand brushes against a wall. Tenna quickly takes out her cell phone and using the screen as a light source. It’s a door but with no handle. Devi and Tenna push gently on the side opposite of the hinges and instantly fall through.  
“That seemed too easy,” Tenna comments as they stand up. This new room is illuminated by a naked light bulb hanging from the ceiling. The walls are red brick, each with two doors, except for the one on their right, which only has one.  
Devi stands up, rubbing her head, and closes the door behind them. It blends in with the wall, so you can barely tell it’s a door unless you’re looking for it.  
“Where are we?” she asks.  
“I don’t know. But we can’t really go back,” Tenna shrugs and points at the door to their right, “let’s try that one.”  
Devi follows Tenna through the door apprehensively. They’re immediately met with a long, dimly lit hallway with locked, metal doors on either side. On the far end is a tall, dark stairwell.  
“This seems like a prison,” Tenna whispers, “I wonder if there’s anyone in those cells.”  
“Maybe they’re not cells. They’re probably just decoration,” Devi mutters half-heartedly. They ascend the stairs carefully, jumping at each creak. At the top is a wooden door which they cautiously push open.  
The next floor is a bigger, brighter hallway that splits into smaller, darker hallways on the left. In front of them is a ladder leading to a higher floor.  
“I wonder how low we are. Those stairs were pretty long,” Tenna says.  
They climb the ladder to an empty floor that has nothing but another, smaller stairwell that leads to a white, wooden door.  
“That looks promising,” Tenna comments and instantly trots up the stair. Devi groans and follows after her.  
They peek through the door into a small, dark hallway. But this one is different from the ones they’ve encountered before. It looks like a house.  
They cautiously enter the hall and quietly close the door behind them. There are only four doors in this hall. The one they came from is the first on the right.  
They look to their left and notice a dim, flickering light and hear quiet voices. Sounds like a TV. They tiptoe down the hall to towards the light, and into a fairly large and empty living room. The only furniture is a couch, a TV set with actual bunny ears, and a stand to hold up the TV.  
The TV is on with the volume way low. The girls notice someone sleeping on the couch and peek around the set, their curiosity piqued.  
Devi gasps and stumbles back, her hand grasping her mouth. She peeks around again, just to make sure she really saw what she thought she saw. She did.  
The man asleep on the couch, with the remote barely hanging out of his hand and he face buried into his arm, is Johnny.  
“I can’t believe it. We’re in Johnny’s house. I thought this looked familiar,” she whispers. She notices the front door on the far side of the room and makes a beeline for it. “Tenna, let’s go.”  
Tenna bends down and examines Johnny’s face. “He looks restless,” she comments.  
“Who cares? Let’s just get out of here before he wakes up,” Devi hisses.  
Johnny groans in his sleep, his lips just barely voicing, “De…vi…”  
“I think he’s dreaming about you,” Tenna says.  
“Oh, God. It’s not a wet dream, is it?”  
“Mm, I don’t think so. Looks more like a nightmare.”  
“Ha, maybe he’s remembering how I kicked his ass when he tried to attack me,” Devi snickers then grows solemn. “Let’s get out of here.”  
“Yeah, okay,” Tenna nods and joins her at the door.  
Devi starts to reach for the doorknob, when a huge knife embeds itself into the wood, just inches away from her hand. She squeaks and jumps back, holding her hand to her chest. The girls turn around and she glares at Johnny as he sits up, rubbing his eye.  
“Honestly,” he yawns, “doesn’t anyone know how to knock anymore?”  
He stands up and stretches his stiff arms to the sky. When he’s worked all the tension out of his bones, he turns around and faces the intruders.  
“Is this reality? No, I must still be dreaming. That’s the only explanation as to why Devi is in my house,” he mutters.  
“I didn’t want to be here,” she snaps, “just let us leave.”  
He puts his finger to his lips. “Please, keep it down. Squee is in bed, and I would feel really bad if we woke him up.”  
“What’s a Squee?” Devi asks then shakes her head, “look, just let us go. We don’t want to be here.”  
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” he sighs as he walks up to them, grabbing the handle of his knife and glaring at the slightly shorter girl, “you see, whatever your reasons, this is technically breaking-and-entering. And I don’t take kindly to criminals. Ironic, no?”  
Johnny and Devi glare at each other, Johnny slowly winning.  
“Excuse me? Hey, hello.” Tenna interrupts their little staring contest by waving a hand in between them. “Hi, we’ve never actually met. I’m Tenna,” she smiles and sticks her hand out to Johnny.  
“Johnny,” he grunts, not making any move to shake her hand as he removes his knife.  
Tenna awkwardly lowers her hand and forces a chuckle. “Johnny. It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard lots of great things about you.”  
Johnny stares blankly at her, not the least bit convinced. “Really. Would you mind telling me those great things, so that I could be aware of them?”  
Tenna’s smile wavers, but she doesn’t give up. “Listen, Johnny, we’re really sorry we broke into your house. We didn’t mean to. We had no idea we were even close to your house.”  
“Tenna, don’t,” Devi growls but she ignores her.  
“See, Devi and I were taking a walk, streets away from here, when we started getting chased by this… monster. We managed to lose it when we hid in this shed that had stairs. We followed the stairs and I guess we ended up in your basement or something,” Tenna explains quickly.  
“A shed? I thought I explored all the entrances to my basements,” Johnny murmurs.  
“Well this one kind of blended into the wall, so you might not have noticed it,” Tenna points out.  
“You said you were being chased by a monster? What did it look like?” he asks.  
“It was small and stood on two feet. It didn’t look like any animal I have ever seen. Actually, it kind of looked like it was made of Styrofoam,” she says.  
The girls are taken aback at the fearful look that grows on Johnny’s face.  
“What did its eyes look like?” he asks.  
“What?” Tenna questions.  
“Its eyes. What did its eyes look like?” he snaps.  
“Um… I think they had… swirls,” she replies.  
Johnny snarls and spins on his heel, marching out of the living room and down the hallway. This would be the perfect chance to run, but their curiosity gets the better of them, and Devi and Tenna end up following.  
They head to the last door on the left. This room is even more empty than the living room, except for a dresser and mirror, and two knives sticking out of the wall. One knife is stabbed through the head of a Styrofoam cut-out with white eyes and ‘Z?’ written on its shirt. The other holds nothing.  
“Fuck,” Johnny shouts as he pulls out the empty knife and looks around, his face full of anger, frustration, and fear. “Psycho Doughboy! Show yourself. Leave them and face me!”  
He stares around for a few more seconds before losing his temper and slamming his fist into the wall. “Fuck!”  
“Johnny?”  
Squee peeks between the two strange girls as he rubs his tired eyes, Shmee hanging loosely from his arm. “What’s going on?”  
Johnny barely glances at the boy before looking away guiltily. “Nothing, Squee. Go back to bed.”  
Squee glances at the two girls before leaving and heading back to his room.  
Johnny sighs miserably and lowers his hand. Small pieces of plaster hit the ground around his feet.  
Devi gathers up all her courage and steps forward. “Johnny, what’s going on? Who was that boy? What was that monster? You know something about it, don’t you? I know you do.”  
“Get out,” he growls quietly.  
“Not until you tell us what’s going on. We deserve to-.”  
“Get out!”  
Devi and Tenna both jump at the tone in his voice. Without another word, they quickly leave the house and don’t look back.  
On the way back to their apartments, Johnny’s voice constantly replays in Devi’s head. ‘Get out.’ Just two little words. And yet when he yelled them, there was so much emotion: anger, sadness, frustration, loneliness, fear.  
How can two words hold so much negative emotions?

Squee creeps down the dark hallway to the living room, Shmee clutched to his chest. He looks around and sees Johnny sitting at the table in the kitchen. He’s clutching the knife and weakly stabbing the table while blood drips from fresh cuts on his left arm.  
“Um, Johnny?” Squee asks weakly. Johnny turns his head and looks at him. The expression on his face causes Squee to hesitate. He looks tired but also kind of depressed. Why does it seem familiar to him?  
“Uh, who were- did… did you cut yourself?” he asks, suddenly altering from his original question.  
Johnny glances at his bleeding arm, almost like he just noticed it was cut before lowering it into the shadows of the table and looking away. “Go to bed, Squee.”  
“Um… who were those girls?” he asks, ignoring the demand.  
“Devi and Tenna,” Johnny replies, “Devi was… she… I knew her. Tenna I just met.”  
“Why were they here?”  
“They said they were being chased by a monster, by Psycho Doughboy.”  
“He’s alive!” Squee exclaims.  
“It would seem so,” Johnny nods.  
“What does this mean?”  
“I guess he gained enough power to use his old body. So it’s safe to assume that the others aren’t too far behind.”  
“But how are they gaining power?”  
“I’m not sure,” Johnny sighs.  
“Okay. Then why did they chase Devi and Tenna?”  
“That I don’t know either. But I can guess. Devi is a painter and she’s really good. He could’ve been trying to feed on her imagination,” he mutters, “but why Devi?”  
“Um… maybe she’s connected somehow to Sickness? We did say she’s probably connected to someone other than us, right?” Squee suggests.  
“Yeah,” Johnny nods.  
“So how about we ask her for help?”  
“I can’t. Devi and I… we don’t really get along.”  
“But if the Nightmare wants her, then we can’t leave her alone,” Squee points out.  
“She’ll be fine, I’m sure,” he nods.  
Squee doesn’t say anything in reply as he notices the puddle of blood on the floor getting bigger. “Johnny, you… you should fix your arm.”  
Johnny’s face grows dark and his rests his chin on his uninjured arm. “Go to bed, Squee. Get some sleep.”  
“You need sleep too,” he points out.  
Johnny smiles a heart-breaking-ly sad smile. “Yeah.”  
Squee doesn’t reply to that. He just turns around and mutters, “good night,” as he heads back to his room.  
Johnny rests his head on the cold table, his heavy eyelids slamming shut. That nightmare he had, it was about Devi and a strange little doll that almost looked like her. What does it mean? Is Devi really connected to the Nightmare?  
He moans and wraps his uninjured arm around his head. He’s so exhausted. He just wants to ignore everything right now.  
His self-inflicted, injured arm hangs limply at his side, creating a large puddle of blood on the kitchen floor. It wouldn’t be the first time.


	6. Chapter 6

Squee clutches Shmee to his chest and walks cautiously down the hallway. He peeks around the corner and sees Johnny sitting on the couch in the living room. He’s all dressed up in his boots, jeans, shirt, jacket, and gloves so the cuts on his left arm can’t be seen.  
Squee ducks back around the wall and takes a deep breath. He steps around the corner and smiles. “Good morning, Johnny.”  
“Morning,” he grunts.  
Squee sits stiffly beside him. He glances continuously at Nny, trying to gather up some courage.  
Johnny notices the kid looking at him, but tries to ignore it. He feels bad for yelling at him yesterday. He wants to apologize, but he just can’t get the words to pass through his mouth. He’s never apologized to anyone before. Not even himself.  
Squee clears his throat and looks at Johnny. “Um, Johnny, I was thinking of doing some laundry. The sheets on my-er I mean your bed could use a good wash. So uh I was wondering if you had a washer and dryer.”  
“Um.” Johnny thinks about the two machines in his basement that could be a washer and a dryer. But last he saw, they were full of organs and bones, of the human variety, so Squee probably doesn’t want to use those.  
“I do, but they’re not… functioning,” he says, “but there’s a Laundromat a couple blocks away. You could go there.”  
“Great,” Squee smiles, “um, uh, do you maybe wanna come with me?”  
Johnny looks at him. He’s staring nervously at his feet and fiddling with Shmee. It obviously took all of his courage to ask that. How can he possibly say no?  
“Uh, I guess so, sure,” he nods hesitantly.  
“Really?” Squee exclaims happily.  
Johnny is somewhat taken aback by Squee’s excitement. “Uh, yeah.”  
“Awesome,” he squeaks then clears his throat, “uh, I mean, that’s cool...”  
He stands up and scratches his neck nervously. “I’m uh gonna go strip the bed.”  
“Okay. I’m going to grab my laundry. I’ll meet you at the car,” Johnny says as he quickly trots around the boy and disappears into the basement.  
Squee jogs down the hall to his room, squeezing Shmee to his chest. “Was…was that too obvious?” he asks.  
“Just a bit,” Shmee replies.  
At the same time, Johnny leans against the basement door, panting and clutching his chest. His heart is pounding really fast. What’s he so disturbed about?  
He takes a deep breath to calm himself down and trots down the stairs. He’s got plenty of dirty clothes through out of the rooms in his lower floors, but he won’t grab them all. Just the ones on the first floor will do for now.  
He quickly grabs all the clothes he can find and stuffs them into a garbage bag. Afterwards, he runs up the stairs and into the house, where he nearly runs into Squee who’s holding his own bag of laundry.  
“Oh, hi,” Squee says, surprised.  
“Hey. Ready to go?” Johnny asks.  
“Uh huh,” he nods and follows Johnny out the door and into the car. Both of them walk stiffly and nervously.  
“Jeez, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you two were on a date,” Shmee comments.  
“Quiet, Shmee,” Squee hisses.  
“Why? He can’t hear me,” he points out.  
“Yeah, but I can,” he squeaks.  
“What’s the bear saying? Is he talking about me again?” Johnny growls.  
“Uh, no, it’s nothing,” Squee says quickly and quickly sits in the passenger seat. Johnny just shrugs and sits in the driver’s. They both throw their bags into the backseat and Johnny starts the car.  
“So how do we do laundry?” Johnny asks as they drive down the street.  
“You’ve never done it before?” Squee questions.  
“Well, I must have at some point, but I don’t remember,” he replies.  
“Don’t worry, I’ll teach you. I had to do my own laundry all the time. Mom was always too high on pills and Dad always thought it was a waste of time, so I had to teach myself,” Squee explains, “I had to teach myself a lot of things.”  
Johnny glances at Squee sadly. The kid had two parents, but he pretty much grew up by himself. He didn’t have any friends, just his teddy bear.  
“I don’t remember any of my childhood. Actually I don’t remember much of three years ago. But I can relate, I guess. I spend most of my time alone,” he rambles, “but you seem much more capable than me. I don’t even know how to do laundry.”  
Squee smiles but doesn’t say anything. He just feels happy that Johnny was trying to make him feel better. It worked.  
They arrive at the Laundromat a few minutes later. It’s empty which is to Johnny’s liking. Squee drops his laundry by a washing machine and asks Johnny to help pick some detergent from the vending machine.  
“Detergent?” Johnny questions.  
“Yeah. They wash the clothes and get rid of stains and stuff,” Squee explains.  
“Stains, huh,” Johnny mutters as he glances at the clothes in his bag. All are covered in blood stains and who knows what else. It would probably be better if Squee didn’t see that.  
“You can teach me how to use a washer, right? I can wash my own clothes after,” Johnny says.  
“Sure,” Squee says as he drops a few quarters into the machine and buys a box of detergent. He teaches Johnny how to use the washer using his own clothes as examples. Johnny listens closely, always interested in learning something new, then tries on his own clothes. He also throws in the jacket he’s currently wearing. His gloves are long enough to cover most of his forearms so the cuts on his wrists still can’t be seen.  
“Now we just wait,” Squee says as he sits on a nearby table.  
“How do we know when it’s done?” Johnny asks as he sits next to him. “The machine just stops working,” he replies.  
“Oh. This isn’t that hard,” he comments then asks, “do you ever wash Shmee? He looks pretty ratty.”

“Sometimes I give him a bath in a tub. It looks like he can use one,” Squee agrees. Shmee looks at him disapprovingly and he just laughs.  
The boys spend an hour or two at the Laundromat, talking about nothing and just enjoying each other’s company. To Nny’s surprise, he actually finds himself having fun. He tries to ignore it but it doesn’t work. He’s just enjoying himself too much.  
When his jacket is finally done in the dryer, he quickly whips it out and puts it on. As he rests it on his shoulder, he’s surprised by the warmness and strong scent.  
“It smells good,” he chimes, pulling the collar over his nose and breathing in the fresh scent.  
“Yeah. That’s the detergent,” Squee smiles.  
“It smells like Spring and good memories,” he muses as he smiles happily. Squee stares at Johnny in awe. He’s never seen him like this. He’s like an entirely different person.  
Johnny lies down on the table and continues to smell his clean coat. He knows Squee’s staring at him but he doesn’t care. He’s almost happy right now. He just wants to enjoy this feeling.  
Meanwhile, just outside the Laundromat, Devi and Tenna peek through the big window, both of them holding bags full of laundry.  
“Man, why did he have to be here?” Devi scoffs, ducking around the wall.  
“Who cares? Let’s just get our laundry done,” Tenna sighs.  
“No way. I’m not going anywhere near him,” Devi snaps, “I’ll go tomorrow.”  
“Well, I’m going. These are my last pair of clean pants,” Tenna says.  
“Fine. Text me later and I’ll come pick you up,” she shrugs as she climbs into her car, “be careful. Don’t trust him.”  
“I’ll be fine,” Tenna says reassuringly and waves as Devi drives away.  
Despite what she just said, Tenna is actually quite nervous about being alone with Johnny. Especially after what happened last night. But she’s already worn all of her pants at least twice. And besides why should he and his friend get the Laundromat to themselves? She deserves to use it too.  
The bell dings as Tenna opens the door and marches into the building, her head held high. Johnny stops sniffing his coat and watches as she walks by, even though she doesn’t even glance at him.  
Squee stops throwing his clothes into the dryer and looks at the girl on the other side of the building. He’s not sure, but he thinks she’s one of the girls from last night. He glances at Nny for clarification, but he’s ignoring her and has started throwing his clean laundry into his bag.  
“That’s her. I’d recognize that hair anywhere,” Shmee says, “she was also watching us with her purple-haired friend through the window a few minutes ago.”  
“That was them?” Squee questions, “should I go talk to her?”  
“If you want to,” the bear shrugs.  
Squee looks at Johnny. Johnny looks at Squee and his eyes harden disapprovingly. Obviously he does not want him to have anything to do with Tenna.  
“Well, they can’t just ignore each other,” Squee sighs. He clutches Shmee to his chest and marches over to Tenna, doing his best to ignore Johnny’s glare.  
“Hi,” Squee smiles as he stops next to Tenna. She turns to him, surprised by the approach. “My name is Squee. What’s yours?”  
“Tenna,” she replies and smirks, “Squee’s a strange name.”  
“Well, my real name is Todd Casil but I like Squee better,” he explains.  
“Me too,” she smiles.  
Johnny cocks his head as he eavesdrops on the two. He wishes Squee would leave her alone. He doesn’t want anything to do with her for all of their own good.  
“So why didn’t your friend come in too?” Squee asks.  
“You saw us?” Tenna exclaims.  
“Well, I knew there were two people watching but I didn’t know it was you guys specifically. Shmee told me,” he explains.  
“Who’s Shmee?” she asks.  
“This Shmee,” Squee announces as he holds out his stuffed companion.  
“A teddy bear?” Tenna questions.  
“Yup. But I can hear his voice, nobody else can.”  
“Huh.” She doesn’t know if that’s cute or creepy.  
“So? Why didn’t your friend come in?” Squee asks again.  
“Oh, well, Devi doesn’t really like Johnny much,” Tenna says.  
“Why?”  
“Well, apparently they went on a date together a while back and afterwards Johnny tried to kill her,” she states.  
“Oh,” Squee mutters and looks back at Johnny. He’s staring at his t-shirt, too distracted by their conversation to throw it into his bag.  
“Then why were you guys in his house last night?” he asks.  
“That was an accident. We were being chased by a monster,” Tenna replies.  
“Psycho Doughboy,” Squee states.  
“What?” she questions.  
“Psycho Doughboy is the name of the monster that was chasing you.”  
“What is he? How do you know?”  
Squee starts to answer, but he’s interrupted by a sharp hiss behind him. “Squee!”  
He turns around to Johnny, who’s shaking his head, his face full of anger. Squee squeezes Shmee and quickly trots over to him, telling Tenna to wait a second.  
“She deserves to know,” he insists.  
“We are not involving her in this,” Johnny snaps, “it’s bad enough I already have you. That was my own fault. I don’t want anyone else.”  
“Psycho Doughboy tried to attack her. She’s already involved,” Squee argues, “she doesn’t have to help us against the Nightmare. She just deserves to know what’s going on in case it happens again.”  
“The less she knows the better,” Johnny barks.  
Squee flinches under Johnny’s hard glare, but doesn’t back down. “Tenna is a good person. She should know what’s going on.”  
“Um.” Tenna walks up to them, rubbing the back of her neck. “Johnny, I’m sorry about what happened last night. If what happened is causing you two to fight, then I’m really sorry. I don’t want to cause any trouble.”  
“If you don’t want to cause trouble then stay away from us. It’s for our own good as well as yours,” he growls.  
“Johnny,” Squee squeaks. Johnny scoffs and looks away.  
“It’s okay, Squee,” Tenna smiles, “whatever that monster was, I’m guessing it’s connected in some way to the two of you. Maybe it’s safer if I don’t know.”  
“Exactly. That’s what I’ve been trying to say,” Johnny exclaims.  
“But I am quite curious,” she adds.  
“Jeez,” Johnny snarls and jumps to his feet, “fine, whatever, tell her. I don’t care. If she wants to damn herself to the darkness, then let her.”  
“Darkness?” Tenna questions.  
“Do you really want to know?” Squee asks.  
Tenna considers the question deeply, weighing the pros and cons until she finally decides. “I do.”  
“Then sit down. I’ll explain everything.”  
Squee spends the remainder of the hour explaining everything’s he’s learned from Johnny to Tenna. She listens closely, but has a hard time believing everything. This kid talks to teddy bears, so he’s probably not too right in the head. But then again she was pursued by a Styrofoam monster last night. That’s probably proof that anything is possible.  
Johnny leans against the wall and stares out of the large window. The streets are fairly empty. It’s the middle of a weekday so everyone is probably at work or school.  
He lifts his eyebrow at the sudden silence and turns around. It looks like Squee has finally finished talking. He’s staring awkwardly at Shmee, while Tenna mulls the explanation around in her head.  
“I’m… not sure if I believe you,” she admits.  
“That’s fine. I wouldn’t believe me either, if I was you,” Squee shrugs.  
“But that Psycho Doughboy did chase Devi and me last night, so I suppose you have proof,” she adds.  
“He is real, and he’s dangerous… I’m assuming.”  
“But still, thank you for telling me, Squee,” she smiles and pats his head, “you’re a good kid.”  
“Thanks, Tenna,” Squee smiles, adoring the feel of her touch.  
Johnny feels his eye twitch angrily as Tenna touches Squee. Why does that piss him off so much? He just wants to run over there and cut off her hand.  
Before he can get the chance, the dryer quits running. He sighs and snaps at Squee, “your clothes are done. Let’s get out of here.”  
Squee looks back at him and nods slowly. “Okay, sure.”  
“You’re leaving?” Tenna asks.  
“Yeah. I should be going,” he replies.  
“Alright. Well, Squee, I admit I don’t really wanna deal with these Nightmare guys. But I like you,” she smiles and sticks out her hand, “so if you ever need any help, don’t hesitant to look for me.”  
“Thanks, Tenna,” Squee smiles and shakes her hand.  
The way they’re beaming at each other makes Johnny’s blood boil. But what really pisses him off is that he’s pissed off.  
Squee throws his laundry into his bag and follows Johnny out of the building. They toss their bags into the backseat and climb into the front.  
As they drive down the street, Johnny’s eyes continuously drift back over to his passenger. He’s staring blankly out the window, Shmee resting on his lap.  
Johnny sighs and chews the inside of his cheek. Guilt keeps welling up in stomach. If he doesn’t do something, he might just explode.  
“Um… uh… Squee, listen. About last night, I didn’t mean what I said. It’s just… I have a bad temper and I was feeling extra irritable because of the voices. I know that’s not much of an excuse. I didn’t mean to shout,” he rambles and stutters continuously before taking a deep breath. “I mean… I’m sorry I yelled at you last night… and snapped at you in the Laundromat.”  
Squee stares at him, surprised at the sudden outburst, before smiling sweetly. “It’s okay.”  
Johnny’s heart jumps at the smile. He swallows hard and focuses on the road, doing his best to ignore the pounding in his chest.  
They make it back to the house after a couple of silent minutes. Johnny tosses his bag of clothes into the basement- to be dealt with later, maybe- while Squee unpacks his laundry and puts everything away, putting his sheets back on his bed.  
Johnny collapses on the couch and turns on the TV to a random cartoon. He pays half attention as Squee sits beside him.  
He blinks and looks up at the sound of a low growl. Squee rubs his stomach and licks his lips.  
“Hungry?” Johnny asks. Squee nods. “I don’t really have any food in the house right now. There’s a convenience store down the street. Wanna go there?”  
“Okay, if you want to,” Squee nods.  
Johnny stands up and leads Squee out the door. They walk silently down the empty sidewalk, the only sounds the low growl of Squee’s stomach and the light wind in their ears.  
Johnny sniffs the air, and a scent much more different than the freshness of his clean jacket tickles his senses.  
He doesn’t like it. Something is very wrong. There’s a sickeningly familiar scent in the air. And it’s incredibly strong.  
It’s the scent of death.  
“Are you okay?” Squee asks.  
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Johnny groans. His eyes dart back and forth, his ears twitch at every sound, as he looks out for any sign of danger. Something is very wrong. Maybe they should head back.  
No, Squee’s hungry and there isn’t any food in the house. Besides, the store is right around the corner.  
Johnny and Squee turn right, but stop abruptly at the large group of strange people in front of them.  
Johnny doesn’t remember a lot of his past- or any of it. His earliest memory is of when he first bought Nailbunny at the pet store, and even that is kind of hazy.  
But if there’s one thing he remembers, it’s all of the victims he has killed in his lifetime. He even remembers everyone he killed before he got Nailbunny. He may not remember their names, but he always remembers their faces. Because he knows that no matter what, they won’t forget his face.  
So when he looks into the crowd in front of him and sees the scarred, slightly rotting faces of almost all of his victims, he knows this means trouble.  
“H’oh boy,” he mutters.  
“Hello, Johnny. It’s been a long time.” A man steps in front of the crowd and smirks at the bewildered murderer. He’s thin with a tall head and a scar on his forehead. He looks kind of familiar.  
“Do you remember me?” he asks.  
“Um… oh, you’re the potato head!” Johnny exclaims.  
“That’s not my name!” he shouts angrily.  
“Oh, right, sorry. The reject jelly bean,” Johnny corrects.  
“NO!” he barks, “I’m Krik.”  
“Right. You were the guy who was killed by the Nightmare just after kicking me to death,” he says with realisation.  
“If you were dead when I was killed, then how would you know that?” Krik asks.  
“I don’t know,” Johnny shrugs.  
“Um, well, anyway you’re probably wondering what’s going on,” Krik says.  
“Let me see. You’re all zombies of my past victims who have risen from the dead to exact revenge?” Johnny suggests.  
“Close. We are zombies of your past victims, but we didn’t rise from the dead. Someone resurrected us,” he smirks, “any guesses who?”  
“The Nightmare,” Squee squeaks.  
“The kid’s a smart one,” Krik laughs.  
The zombies behind Krik moan and start advancing. Squee whimpers and steps back but Johnny holds his ground.  
“Squee, go straight back to the house. Don’t look for help, just go straight home,” Johnny demands.  
“What about you?” Squee asks.  
“Don’t worry about me. Just focus on yourself,” Johnny snaps, “now go.”  
Squee spins on his heel and starts to dash around the corner. One of the zombies roars and charges him, his hand stretching out for Squee’s neck.  
Johnny slams his foot into the zombie’s arm, smashing it into a million pieces. He looks back and watches Squee rush around the corner.  
“I hear this in anime all the time, and I’ve always wanted to use it.” Johnny turns to the zombies, taking his knife out of his jacket and lifting it over his face, his creepy, blood curdling smirk reflecting in the blade. “I’m your opponent.”


	7. Chapter 7

Squee races down the street at full speed. Despite his small stature, he’s fast enough to give a cheetah a run for his money. Especially when he’s freaked right out.  
He doesn’t look back to see if those ‘zombies’ are chasing him. He just clutches Shmee and runs until he can’t breathe anymore. When his legs finally give out, he leans against a wall and pants heavily.  
“What…what is happening?” he pants.  
“You’re safe. None of those creatures are chasing you,” Shmee says.  
“Johnny is in trouble,” Squee states.  
“Forget about him. You can’t possibly go back for him,” he points out.  
“I can’t forget about him,” Squee disagrees and stands up. He jogs down the street but in the opposite direction of Johnny and the zombies.  
Squee would be next to useless if he went back for Johnny. There’s got to be someone who can help him.  
The police? No, Johnny’s technically a serial killer. He probably wouldn’t like being involved with the cops. The army? He doesn’t know how to get a hold of them.  
He looks up and notices the familiar surroundings. He somehow made it back to the Laundromat. He sees Tenna standing by a car with the purple hair girl, Devi.  
“Tenna!” he exclaims and runs up to the girls.  
“Squee?” she questions. Behind her, Devi twitches with surprise and steps back.  
“Tenna, please, I need your help,” he pants.  
“You’re that kid from last night,” Devi growls.  
“What’s going on, Squee?” Tenna asks.  
“It’s Johnny. We were attacked by these weird… people and he told me to run while he stayed back to fight. But I can’t leave him but I can’t help him either,” Squee explains breathlessly.  
“So you want me to help him?” she asks.  
“Please?” he whimpers.  
“No way!” Devi snaps, pushing Tenna out of the way. “There’s no way I’m helping that idiotic psychopath. Whatever those people are doing, he totally deserves.”  
“Devi, right? Listen, I know you hate Johnny and after hearing about what happened between you two, I don’t blame you,” Squee explains, “but Johnny’s not a bad person. He’s just…”  
Squee stops as he suddenly remembers the look on Johnny’s face last night, and why it seemed so familiar.  
“He’s just sad and lonely,” he whispers, “I know because I used to look that exact same way.”  
Devi softens a little at the look on the boy’s face. Though she’d never know, it’s the exact same expression Johnny wore last night. But even she thinks he looks sad and lonely.  
“Well, I suppose we could at least check on him,” Devi groans.  
Squee smiles and squeezes Shmee. Devi growls and points at her backseat. He quickly climbs in as Devi and Tenna sit in the front seats. She starts the car and follows Squee’s directions back to Johnny’s location.  
Squee quickly jumps out of the car and looks around. Tenna and Devi follow him, but a little slower. All three of them stop abruptly at the sight.  
Crowding the entire street are cut up body parts, piled up like firewood some even tied together like knots. But the most disturbing part is the obvious lack of blood. The buildings should be dripping with it, but there is not even a puddle.  
Except for a small trail leading away from the bodies into a nearby alley.  
“I thought you said he needed help,” Tenna says.  
“I thought he did,” Squee mutters.  
“Where is he?” Devi growls.  
“Maybe he’s leaving that trail of blood,” Tenna suggest as she peeks down the alley.  
“Well, I sure as hell am not following him,” Devi snaps.  
“I understand, you don’t have to,” Squee nods.  
“We’re not leaving you,” Tenna states, “we’ll take you home at least.”  
“Fine,” Devi groans and climbs into her car. Tenna and Squee follow her and leave the not-at-all gory scene behind them.  
As they drive down the street, they can’t help but notice the subtle trail of blood leading down the sidewalk straight to Johnny’s house.  
Devi pulls the car over and Squee quickly hops out. He notices the blood trail getting thicker and thicker as it leads up the front walk and on the door is a thick strip of fresh blood, like he had trouble opening it and had to lean against it.  
Squee’s trembling hand slowly turns the knob. Devi and Tenna unintentionally follow him, their curiosity getting the better of them.  
Squee jumps back as his shoe splashes into a fresh puddle of blood. There’s a trail leading into the kitchen, where rattling and muttering is sounding from.  
Squee clutches Shmee and peeks around the corner, while the girls stay stock still by the door open.  
“Got it,” Johnny groans as he enters the living room, holding a dusty first aid kit.  
His shirt and chest are ripped open, from claws and teeth. His pants are ripped and his legs are cut open everywhere, his boots completely torn apart. His arms are covered in deep teeth marks, especially his left arm. It doesn’t look like he can even move it. The only body part not covered in injuries is his face.  
“Johnny,” Squee whimpers.  
“Well, look at this,” Johnny growls as he stumbles past the boy and collapses on the couch. “I tell you to go home and not to get help, and you didn’t listen. Well, I guess you listened a little. It’s not like those two are going to be of any help.”  
“Johnny, you’re really hurt,” Squee moans.  
“Oh, please. I’m fine, this is nothing,” Johnny shrugs and instantly winces. He rubs his left arm and groans. He grabs the first aid kit and attempts to open it with one hand.  
“Dumbass,” Devi grumbles, “you’re never gonna fix those wounds with a first aid kit.”  
“You’d be surprised at my medical know-how, Princess,” Johnny says, “I could fix even these wounds.” He looks himself over, particularly his immobile left arm. “Maybe.”  
“Um you know, there’s a doctor who lives in our building,” Tenna points out, “he’s licensed but he doesn’t practice professionally. He’d probably be able to help you.”  
“I don’t know. Would the Princess be okay with that?” Johnny asks as he tries to open the kit with his teeth.  
“Why do you keep calling me ‘princess’?” Devi snaps.  
“Devi,” Tenna growls.  
“Fine. Get in the car,” Devi demands.  
“How compassionate,” Johnny groans as he tries to stand up. His bleeding knees buckle and he nearly collapses. Squee’s arms lash out and he quickly grabs him and holds him up.  
Johnny looks at him with surprise, his entire body going rigid at the touch. Squee lets him go when he steadies himself and backs away awkwardly. He quickly wipes his hands onto his pants and picks Shmee off the ground, clutching the bear to his chest.  
Johnny clears his throat and stumbles to the door. “Alright, let’s go,” he demands.  
Devi and Tenna watch after him as he wobbles down the walk to the car before following him. Squee swallows hard, calming his nerves just a little, and chases after them.  
Johnny and Squee climb into the backseat and Devi and Tenna in the front. Squee sits as far away from Johnny as possible without actually being outside the car and squeezes his knees to keep them from trembling.  
Johnny glances at Squee and rubs his injured arm. The kid looks so freaked out. Not that that’s anything new but this time it’s Johnny’s fault. Again, nothing new. But then why does he feel so bad?  
It’s my fault he’s so scared. Cause I’m so damn clumsy, I let a bunch of zombies scratch me up. I should just comfort him already.  
Johnny reaches his right arm out towards the unknowing Squee. His blood-coated fingers tremble slightly and instinctively curl in. When he’s less than inches away from the boy’s hair, his hand stops, like its hit an imaginary wall. He quickly retracts his arm before anyone can notice and kicks himself for being such a coward.  
Devi drives the car in awkward silence, the only sound being Johnny’s laboured breath. Even though their apartment building is only a few minutes away, the drive feels like hours. And everyone is relieved when they finally reach their destination.  
Johnny’s legs shake as he steps out of the car. His body is starting to suffer from blood loss. Stupid human body.  
Devi and Tenna lead Squee and Johnny into the apartment. Even though Johnny’s vision is blurring and his body is trembling all over, he still keeps up with the rest of the group. But the stairs nearly kill him. His legs give out and he has to crawl up the steps.  
“How far up is he?” Johnny growls.  
“Can’t keep up?” Devi smirks.  
“Don’t underestimate me, Princess,” he snaps and tries to stand up, but his legs completely give out and he falls to his knees.  
“His room is right here,” Tenna says as she points at a nearby door. She knocks while Johnny supports himself on the wall.  
A handsome, black haired man in his late twenties answers. He looks at the girls with surprise. “Hello, Devi, Tenna. What can I do for you?”  
“Hey, Charlie. We need your help,” Devi says and points at Johnny. He’s doing his best to stay on his feet, and Squee is doing his best not to help him.  
“Oh, dear,” he mutters and holds open the door. “Come in, I’ll help him.”  
Charlie leads Johnny to a hospital bed in a small room, on which he instantly collapses.  
“Fucking human body and its stupid limitation,” he pants as he lies down.  
“I agree,” Charlie nods as he turns on the lights, turning the whole room a bright yellow.  
Squee, Devi, and Tenna stand by the doorway of the room while Charlie examines Johnny’s wounds. His face is creased with worry and confusion.  
“These scratches and bite marks almost look like they were caused by humans,” he comments.  
“Humans, zombies, all the same to me,” Johnny shrugs.  
“No, please don’t explain anything,” Charlie groans, “I’m something of an underground doctor. I treat patients who can’t or won’t go to a hospital. So the least I know the better.”  
“I like that,” Johnny comments.  
“Anyway, your injuries aren’t that bad. I don’t think you’ll need stitches, they should be able to heal by themselves,” he explains, “I’ll just clean them and put some bandages on. It may take a while so make yourselves comfortable.”  
“Thanks, Charlie,” Tenna smiles as she and Devi go into the living room. Squee however stays put.  
Charlie grabs a bunch of supplies from the shelves and rests them on the bed next to Johnny. He helps him remove his jacket and shirt, revealing even more fresh scratches.  
Squee watches Charlie gently cleans Johnny’s injuries as he stands awkwardly by the doorway. Part of him wants to sit down with the girls, but he also wants to stay close to Johnny. He squirms and squeezes Shmee.  
“Squee?” Tenna asks as she grabs his shoulder, “we’re going to Devi’s apartment to get something to eat. You wanna come?”  
“Oh, no thanks. I’m not really hungry,” he smiles just before his stomach growls.  
“Squee, just go,” Johnny mutters, “it’s okay.”  
Squee looks at him with sad eyes. He’s wearing that same sad and lonely expression. He doesn’t want to go. But Johnny doesn’t want him to stay.  
“Kay. I’ll be right back,” Squee nods and follows the girls out of Charlie’s apartment.  
Charlie looks back at the boy as the door closes. “Is that your brother?” he asks.  
“No, he’s… I don’t know what he is,” Johnny sighs.  
Meanwhile on the floor above them, Devi, Tenna, and Squee snack on a bag of chips. Squee is a lot hungrier than he thought so even though they taste like the greatest chips in the world, he can’t enjoy them. He’s just too worried about Johnny.  
“What is that guy to you?” Devi asks suddenly.  
“Johnny? I don’t know,” Squee admits, “I was his neighbor when I was younger, and he always terrified me. He still does but it’s weird. Ever since he took me in I just find myself almost… worrying about him.”  
“Aw,” Tenna chimes.  
“Don’t ‘aw’ him, Tenna,” Devi snaps, “you do know he’s a murderer, right?”  
“Of course. I mean he doesn’t brag about it but he doesn’t exactly deny it either,” he shrugs.  
“But if you know that then how can you be around him?” she asks.  
“It’s like I told you before. I don’t think Johnny is really a bad guy. It’s just that other people treat him badly,” Squee explains, “he’s probably just trying to protect himself by not getting close to others and making sure they don’t get close to him.”  
“Why do you seem so smart when you’re so young?” Tenna asks.  
“I watch a lot of TV,” he shrugs.  
When they finish the rest of the chips, they leave Devi’s apartment and head back to Charlie’s. They let themselves in and notice Charlie in the kitchen, washing his hands.  
“How is he?” Squee asks.  
“He’s fine. I’ve cleaned all of his injuries. He’s just resting right now,” Charlie explains, “but there’s something odd about him. I know it’s impossible but it looks like his injuries were already healing. The bleeding has already stopped and a lot of his wounds were scabbing over.”  
“Already?” Devi exclaims.  
“Is that bad?” Squee asks.  
“Well, it’s not bad. It’s just… not exactly normal,” he replies.  
“Um can I see him?” he asks nervously.  
“Go ahead,” Charlie nods and points to the door.  
Devi and Tenna follow Squee to the door. He peeks in and quickly flings open the door at the sight of the empty room.  
“Where is he?” Squee asks.  
“He’s gone,” Devi exclaims.  
“What? How?” Charlie gasps.  
They turn around and notice the front door slightly open. They race to it and peek down the hallway.  
“How did he sneak past us?” Tenna asks.  
“Guy’s like a ghost,” Devi growls.  
“I have to find him,” Squee squeaks and dashes down the hall. Devi and Tenna say goodbye to Charlie and follow him.  
Outside the apartment building, Johnny pulls his marred, stained jacket on over his bandaged chest. He looks back and sighs.  
“Sorry, Squee. If it’s any consolation, I kind of hope to see you at home later,” he murmurs before turning and running out of the yard.  
He rushes home, making it halfway before Devi, Tenna, and Squee even make it out of the apartment building. When he finally makes it home, he throws off his ruined clothes as well as the bandages. He rips open his bag of clean laundry and changes into a pair of fresh jeans and a purple shirt with a black ‘Z’ on the front and striped purple and black sleeves. He pulls on a new pair of boots, a fresh jacket loaded with knives, and a pair of gloves.  
Devi’s brakes screech as she stops her car outside Johnny’s house. They jump out of the car and burst into the house.  
“He’s not here,” Tenna states.  
“He was. Look, his old clothes and bandages are all over the floor,” Squee says as he notices the litter surrounding the basement door.  
“That idiot is going to bleed to death,” Devi growls.  
“But remember what Charlie said? His injuries are already scabbing over. Maybe he doesn’t even need those bandages,” Tenna points out.  
“He’s in trouble. I have to find him,” Squee whimpers and runs out the door.  
“Would you forget about him? You’d be safer with these girls anyway,” Shmee argues.  
“Maybe I would. But I still wanna find him,” he mutters.  
“I don’t understand what’s going on. Can someone please explain it to me?” Devi asks as they climb into the car.  
“Alright, I guess we have no choice,” Squee sighs. He explains everything he explained to Tenna a few hours earlier. The only difference is Devi’s face grows more and more fearful.  
“Sickness,” she breathes.  
“What?” Squee asks.  
“I created Sickness,” she states as she pulls the car over and digs around in her bag, “when I started working at this company called NERVE publishing, I wanted to paint something just for me. So I painted this little doll and named her Sickness. But she started talking me. And controlling me.”  
“But I won,” she smirks as she pulls out two little silver bolts, “she thought she could beat me, but I beat her. Nobody controls me.”  
“Those bolts. Are they-?” Squee starts to ask but stops.  
“They’re her eyes. She’s my little eternal audience,” Devi smiles as she holds one of them up to her face.  
“That’s the only thing left of her?”  
“Yup. So if you’re right and those little creatures are trying to get their bodies back, then I have to keep a close eye on these little eyes. She will never be whole without these.” She grabs a small string from inside her bag. She wraps the string around the ends of the bolt, creating a necklace. She ties it around her neck and sticks them under her shirt.  
“So then what’s Johnny’s plan? Do you have any idea?” Tenna asks.  
“Those zombies that attacked him were created by the Nightmare. I think they’re all his past victims. They’re probably after him as a form of revenge, as well as the Nightmares orders,” Squee explains.  
“You think he’s looking for a fight?” Devi asks.  
“Probably,” Squee nods.  
“We have to find him,” Tenna states.  
Devi starts her car and they continue down the road.  
Meanwhile a few blocks away, Johnny marches down the street, his hands in his jacket pockets. He’s not sure where he’s going, he’s just letting his feet lead the way.  
He continues walking until the sun drops to the horizon. What is he looking for? Nothing. But he knows something is looking for him.  
His ears twitch like a cat’s at a nearby sound. He doesn’t look for it but he doesn’t ignore it either. He just continues walking.  
He hears it again. It sounds like footsteps. He still continues walking, but his eyes subtly survey the surrounding area, like a predator searching for his prey.  
He stops as someone steps a few feet in front of him. He looks up and at the tall, lanky, familiar man in front of him. He’s covered in scars but Johnny recognizes that disgusting, creepy smirk.  
“Hello, Nny,” he chimes. The voice causes Nny’s spine to shudder. “Do you remember me?”  
“I could never forget that disgusting smirk or sickening voice,” Johnny growls. He grabs two knives from his jacket and holds them in both hands.  
“You’re so rude. You should be nicer to me. Especially since I’m here to beat you,” he smirks as he grabs two knives of his own.  
“I killed you once. I can kill you again,” Johnny snarls. “Let’s go, Jimmy.”


	8. Chapter 8

Jimmy charges Johnny and swings his blade hard and fast, but Johnny dodges easily and slashes Jimmy’s arm open. He’s not fazed in the least, and attacks Johnny again. He blocks and they lock each other in a parry.  
“You could’ve avoided this, Nny,” Jimmy hisses, “we could’ve done amazingly, terrible things together. But instead you had to cut me up like a lab animal.”  
“There’s no way I would ever work with a disgusting creep like you,” Johnny snarls.  
“I’m just like you,” Jimmy shouts.  
“Exactly. And I hate me,” Johnny retorts.  
Jimmy jumps back, breaking the parry but earning a quick slice in the face by Nny’s knife. He’s not bothered and just smirks disgustingly. Johnny steps forward and feels his eye twitch from the pain in his legs. His wounds have sealed already, but they still sting.  
Jimmy smirks and charges forward. He bends towards the right and starts to swing at Nny. He gets ready to block but Jimmy suddenly spins around and slices at his left arm. Johnny tries to dodge, but the knife still slices him just below his left elbow.  
Johnny winces and grips his left shoulder.  
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” Jimmy laughs, “I know that when you fought Krik and his minions, he aimed exclusively for your left arm. It was to slow you down, to lower your fighting strength.”  
Johnny stops and glares at him blankly. “That’s stupid. If you wanted to slow me down, why didn’t he aim for my right arm, my main hand?”  
Jimmy blinks, suddenly realizing his mistake. “Uh… well… it doesn’t matter! We still slowed you down!”  
“You’re right, it doesn’t matter,” Johnny grunts, “besides, I’m ambidextrous.”  
Jimmy laughs and charges him. This time he swings at his legs. He tries to jump back, but the curved edge of the blade still hits and slices his left ankle. The sudden pain is enough to make Nny fall to his knees.  
“Annoying, isn’t it?” Jimmy sighs, “it doesn’t matter how strong your will is, the human body constantly exhausts itself. It’s not as strong as you want, is it? But we can fix that. All you have to do is join us.”  
Johnny glares up at him and spits blood at his bare feet. “Get fucked by metal again, you worthless, soulless sellout. I am a slave to nothing, and I never will be. There’s nothing the Nightmare can give me that I can’t get myself.”  
“Really. You’re going to become immortal, like us?” Jimmy scoffs.  
“Who wants to be immortal?” Johnny retorts, “that has boring written all over it.”  
“You’re crazy,” Jimmy snaps, “everyone wants to be immortal.”  
“Maybe,” he shrugs, “but nobody is. Least of all you.”  
“You’re wrong,” Jimmy snarls, “let me tell you something, Nny. You may be a monster-like human, but I am a true monster.”  
Johnny smirks and stares at the ground. “You may be a zombie freak, but you don’t even know the meaning of the word monster.”  
He grips his knives, the pain in his wounds starting to disappear completely. He rests on one knee and slowly starts to rise. But before he can make it to his feet, he’s suddenly interrupted by the loud screech of car tires.  
Devi, Tenna, and Squee scream as they barely swerve past Johnny. However, by the time they notice the other guy standing in front of him, it’s already too late. The front bumper slams into him and he goes flying down the road, smashing into a nearby streetlamp.  
“Oh, my god, I think we just hit a guy!” Devi exclaims as they jump out of the car.  
“Oh, don’t worry. He was just a zombie,” Johnny grunts as he sits on the road.  
“Oh,” Devi and Tenna groan and turn around to face him. Squee however grips Shmee and continues to stare at the zombie. He’s lying on the road, completely still.  
Squee steps back and shivers, squeezing Shmee so tight his little stuffed head nearly pops off.  
“What the hell is the matter with?” Devi snaps, “why would you run off like that?”  
“I was hoping to get away from you guys,” Johnny replies plainly.  
“But why? I thought you wanted help,” Tenna points out.  
“I don’t! I don’t know why I thought it would be a good idea before. I must’ve had a temporary lapse of character,” he groans, “I left because it’s safer to do this on my own.”  
“You are such an idiot. Ever hear of safety in numbers?” Devi snaps.  
“Since when do you want to help me?” Johnny argues.  
“I don’t. But Squee told me what all of this is about,” she says as she pulls Sickness’ eyes out of her shirt, “I created Sickness. And I thought I destroyed her. But if I didn’t, then I will now.”  
“You destroyed her?” Johnny asks curiously.  
“Yeah,” Devi replies cautiously, “why does that surprise you?”  
“No reason,” he grunts and glares at the ground.  
Devi starts to ask something, but suddenly stops when Squee squeaks and steps back.  
“What’s wrong?” Tenna asks. He whimpers and points forward. They look forward and wince.  
Jimmy’s body is standing up a few feet down the road. It’s mangled, and twisted, and missing the head, but it’s still standing.  
It starts twisting and cracking as it snaps all of its bones back into place. Squee shudders at every sound and squeezes Shmee even harder.  
When the body is completely fixed again, it bends down and picks up its last missing piece.  
“Magnificent, is not?” Jimmy asks, an ugly smirk spreading across his severed head, “you could do this too, Nny.”  
He places his head back onto his head and with a good twist, cracks it back into place. Then he starts stretching and limbering up.  
“But I feel really stiff afterwards,” he comments. After he’s loosened up, he smirks and examines the three newcomers. “Let’s see: Squee, Devi, and Tenna, correct? Wow, I had no idea Devi and Tenna were so yummy looking,” he purrs as he licks his lips. “I wonder if I bring you to Lady Zoli if she’ll let me have you two as a reward.”  
Devi and Tenna shudder and step back. Jimmy just laughs and turns his attention to Johnny.  
“What do you think now, Nny? You still think I don’t know the meaning of the word monster?” he barks.  
Johnny doesn’t answer. He just glares silently at the road, his knives hanging loosely in his hands.  
“Speechless, huh? Well, I don’t blame you. I am amazing,” Jimmy laughs and grabs his knives, “now, you were all nice enough to join up, so I won’t have to look for you. Just for that, I’ll make your capture a little less painful.”  
Devi, Tenna, and Squee flinch when Jimmy gets ready to charge them. But before he can even take one step, he suddenly stops. His knives slip out of his trembling hands and he stares at the ground.  
“What is this? It’s bloodlust. But it’s so strong,” he murmurs to himself, “it’s like a pressure on my back. I can’t move. Where is it coming from?”  
He looks at Johnny. He’s standing now, his knives clenched tightly in his fist. Johnny looks up and their eyes meet.  
For the first time since he died, Jimmy feels true fear. Because when he looks into Johnny’s eyes, he doesn’t see a human.  
He sees a beast.  
Before Jimmy can snap out of it, Johnny is on him. In a flash of black and silver, he slices the zombie’s arms right off their shoulder, cutting easily through the bone. Then he ducks down and cuts off both legs, just below the hip. And just before the body can hit the ground, he swings one last time and severs the head right off the shoulders.  
Jimmy- and all of his parts- hits the ground with a loud grunt. The torso and limbs begin twitching as they start moving closer to each other, trying to reattach. Johnny reacts quickly by kicking him hard in the stomach, immobilizing him for a second.  
While he’s flinching, Johnny reaches into his jacket and pulls out a small switchblade. He flips it open and stabs it right into Jimmy’s crotch, pushing the blade in so deep it reaches past the handle.  
Jimmy screams ring loud throughout the streets. He curses bloody murder at Johnny, who replies by simply smashing his head to bits with his boot.  
“Interesting how you can feel pain even when you’re severed to pieces,” Johnny comments drily then faces Devi. “Do you have any garbage bags?”  
Devi flinches at the question, too freaked out to be expecting it. Then she clears her throat and nods nervously. “I-I think so. In my trunk.”  
She grabs her car keys and hands them to Johnny, who yanks them out of her trembling hands. He grabs all the garbage bags and drops them next to Jimmy’s reforming head.  
He quickly throws all the pieces into the double bags, leaving the knife in Jimmy’s crotch. By the time he’s finished, his head is nearly completely regenerated. Before his mouth can finish healing, Johnny grabs him by his hair and tosses him into the bag.  
He throws all the bags back into Devi’s trunk and slams it shut. “I’m driving,” he grunts as he climbs in her car. She nods and sits next to him in the passenger seat. Squee and Tenna scramble into the backseat.  
They drive in heavy, awkward silence, Devi, Tenna, and Squee to scared to say anything and Johnny just to focused. The only thing on his mind is cutting up Jimmy’s undead body. And just behind that, in a tiny corner are his three companions.  
By the time they make it home, Jimmy’s head has completely reformed. He’s shouting all kinds of rude, obscene words from the trunk. Johnny slams hard on the brakes as he pulls up to his house and smirks when he hears a satisfying ‘thunk’.  
As they step out of the car, he pops open the trunk and picks up all of the bags. He tosses Devi her keys and carries the bags into the houses. The others follow close behind but stop in the living room when he opens the door to his basement.  
Johnny chucks the bags through the door and watches as they bounce down the stairs. When they’ve hit the bottom floor, he half waves to Squee, Devi, and Tenna and trots after them.  
“You’re seriously okay living with that psychopath?” Devi exclaims. Squee just shrugs and sits on the couch, fiddling nervously with Shmee’s ear.  
Johnny drags the garbage bags across the cement floor of his basement as he looks around for a specific room. He could easily carry them; they’re nowhere near as heavy as actual bodies in actual body bags. But he enjoys hearing Jimmy grunt and groan.  
Finally he finds his room. He throws Jimmy’s body across the room so it smashes into the opposite wall and begins setting up his tools on a nearby table. When he’s finished, he begins unpacking.  
First he grabs Jimmy’s torso. He holds up to the wall and hammers huge stakes into his shoulders and hips, hanging him there like an ornament. Then he places both arms a few inches away from their shoulders and stakes them at the top, in the elbow, and the hand. Finally, he does the same with both legs, placing them so the feet are flat on the floor.  
He steps back to admire his masterpiece and smirks at how pitifully the limbs wiggle at being so close to home and yet so far.  
He grabs Jimmy’s head and holds him up so he can see his body. “What do you think?”  
“This isn’t going to hold me! I’ll escape,” he shouts.  
“Sure ,whatever,” Johnny grunts. He reaches up and pulls a chained hook down from the ceiling. He jabs the hook into the back of Jimmy’s head so it just hangs there, staring right at his body.  
“You know, I’ve cut people open before their eyes before, but never like this,” he comments as he slips his jacket off and grabs his knife.  
“You can’t kill me,” Jimmy snaps.  
“You’ve proved that,” Johnny says, “but I’m not aiming to kill you. I want answers. So we’re going to have some fun.”  
Johnny grabs the little switchblade in Jimmy’s crotch and wiggles it around a little. He giggles when he hears Jimmy moan behind him before tearing it out.  
“Your body isn’t together anymore, but it still all feels the same pain,” Johnny observes as he watches the hands and feet clench, “it’s like your nerves are connected invisibly. Maybe that’s how you repair yourself.”  
Johnny rams his knife into Jimmy’s torso, right below the neck. He drags it down, slicing his chest open. He uses smaller nails to pin the flaps of skin to the wall, giving him a clean view of Jimmy’s innards. A little too clean.  
“There’s absolutely no blood,” he mutters, “I don’t like bodily fluids, but it’s kind of boring cutting someone open and not having to worry about getting squirted.”  
Johnny leans forward and examines Jimmy’s organs. “None of your organs are alive or working. Completely lifeless.” He pokes at Jimmy’s heart before removing it from his chest cavity. Jimmy exclaims in pain as his arteries and veins pop off.  
“Get your fucking hand out of my chest, you fucking piece of shit asshole,” he shouts, his anger getting the better of him.  
“Goodness. So rude and noisy,” Johnny gasps sarcastically as he examines the lifeless heart. It’s weird seeing one not covered in blood. It’s not even red, it’s just grey and lifeless.  
He crushes it in his fist. It breaks apart like glass. He lets pieces fall to ground.  
He watches curiously as the heart begins rebuilding itself, the pieces pulling together and slowly climbing up Jimmy’s leg and back into his chest. The veins and arteries stick to it, and it’s completely repaired.  
“Okay, enough,” Jimmy snaps, “stop touching me! I’ll explain everything to you. But not because you’re torturing me. I’m just telling you because it would make things more interesting.”  
“Torturing? That wasn’t the torturing,” Johnny says, “no, I was just exploring. I had much more heinous ideas in mind for your torture.”  
“Whatever. Just stop touching me,” Jimmy barks.  
“Fine, fine,” Johnny shrugs and leans against the wall, next to his body. “Now talk.”  
“Alright, pay attention. I am only going to explain this once,” Jimmy snaps, “my master, the Nightmare, has five minions.”  
“Hold up. It’s really called the Nightmare?” Johnny exclaims.  
“Yes. Now shut up and listen,” he growls. “Like I said, it has five minions. Four of them you already know: Sickness, Reverend Meat, Psycho Doughboy, and Mr. Fuck. The fifth one is new and the most powerful because unlike the first four, who needed the help of mortals like you- especially you- to be created, she was created from pure nightmare energy.”  
“Her name is Zoli. She has necromancy powers, which means she can raise the dead. When she was given the mission to capture you, she revived all the souls of your victims and placed them back in their bodies,” he explains, “all of them needed to be sewed up and repaired, but they still work.”  
“Well, slicing people up is my speciality,” Johnny shrugs.  
“Most of the zombies are mindless creatures who only know of their mission,” Jimmy continues, “but there are five of us who have minds of own, who can communicate, regenerate, and fight intelligently. I am one of them, and so is Krik. But there are three more as well. And I’m the most powerful.”  
“You?” Johnny snorts, “then what do I have to be worried about?”  
“Quiet! You should be worried. Do you have any idea how many victims you have?” Jimmy snaps, “even with Krik’s group wiped out, you still didn’t even breach halfway.”  
“I killed you all once, I can do it again,” Johnny argues, “but all I ask is that you leave Squee, Devi, and Tenna alone. You’re my victims, right? They have nothing to do with this.”  
“No can do, Nny,” Jimmy smirks, “while we do have a personal vendetta against you, we also have strict orders to capture all four of you. None of you will escape.”  
“Alright, that’s enough,” Johnny grunts as he rips Jimmy’s head off the hook. He holds him under his arm and walks to the other wall, where a metal door is. He pushes it open, revealing a small room with a wood chipper and a drainage system.  
“What is this?” Jimmy asks.  
“It’s where I put bodies that I don’t want to keep,” Johnny replies. He places Jimmy’s head precariously above the mouth chipper while he goes to retrieve the rest of the body.  
“You know this won’t kill me,” Jimmy snaps.  
“I know. But at least you’ll stay out of my hair for a while,” Johnny retorts.  
First he picks up the torso and tosses it in. The shredder roars hungrily as the body and bones are torn apart, and Jimmy screams right along with it. When it’s been completely ripped apart, the dust is blown out the other end, right into the drain. The arms follow, and after them are legs. Finally, Johnny grabs the head and tosses it up and down.  
“Remember this, Jimmy,” Johnny growls, “the Nightmare will not win. I won’t let it. I am a slave to nothing.”  
“Fight it all you want,” Jimmy smirks exhaustedly, unconsciousness beginning to sweep over him, “the Nightmare is more powerful than you know. And you will always be its plaything.”  
Johnny snarls and throws his head into the chipper. He listens to the loud scream before turning away and slamming the door behind him.  
He marches angrily into the house, smashing the basement door closed. He stops when he notices Squee, Devi, and Tenna sitting on the couch watching TV. The sun is setting outside. He wonders how long he’s be gone.  
“Johnny, you’re back,” Squee exclaims and the jump to their feet, “what happened?”  
“Just a sec,” Johnny replies as he strides into the kitchen. He flings the fridge open and grabs a bottle of cherry Fiz-Wiz, drinking it all in three gulps. It calms him down and he grabs another. He drinks this one slowly this time.  
“So? What did that zombie freak have to say?” Tenna asks.  
“He explained pretty much everything to me,” Johnny replies and tells them the same thing Jimmy told him. They listen closely and intently.  
“Zoli? I don’t know her but I already don’t like her,” Devi snarls.  
“So what do we do?” Tenna asks.  
“Well, I guess we’re stuck working together since the Nightmare is dead set on all of us,” Johnny sighs, “so first we should try to find out more about the Nightmare.”  
“But how?” Devi asks.  
“Um,” Squee mutters, “I think I know someone who might be able to help. We went to Scool together before but he’s not exactly… normal.”  
“None of us are exactly normal,” Tenna shrugs.  
“Who is he?” Devi asks.  
“His name is Pepito. He’s the antichrist.”


	9. Chapter 9

“So the antichrist is real?” Devi asks.  
“Yes,” Squee nods.  
“And we’re seriously going to ask him for help?”  
“Yes.”  
“Why?”  
“Well, the Nightmare is supernatural, right? I just think Pepito is probably an expert on all things supernatural since he himself is supernatural,” Squee explains.  
“But why would the antichrist go to Scool?” Tenna asks.  
“I don’t know his whole plan,” Squee sighs.  
“The antichrist is supposed to be the destroyer of our world, right?” Johnny asks, “he probably wants to learn more about his future subjects.”  
“You seem to be in a better mood,” Devi comments.  
“Well, you know it’s a new day, I downed about three Brain Freezys this morning, and cutting a guy’s guts out while his screams are all distorted because his tongue is nailed to the ceiling always puts me in a good mood,” he giggles maniacally and taps his fingers excitedly on the steering wheel.  
“Seriously, you’re okay living with this guy?” Devi exclaims at Squee. He just shrugs and wiggles Shmee’s arms.  
“Squee’s not living with me. It’s just temporary,” Johnny growls, but then suddenly feels angry at himself for feeling guilty for having said that.  
“Fortunately for him,” Devi mutters.  
“Uh, turn left here,” Squee says. Johnny obeys, doing his best to keep his anger in check.  
“You remember where he lives?” Tenna asks.  
“I do. But I’m not sure if he even lives there anymore,” Squee sighs, “I hope this won’t be a waste of time.”  
“Ah, it’s this house right up here,” he states as he points down the road. Johnny pulls over and everybody hops out.  
Johnny, Devi, and Tenna follow Squee up the walk to the front door. He walks nervously for two reasons: one, he’s worried that when he knocks it won’t be Pepito who answers, and two he’s worried it will be.  
He tentatively lifts his hand and raps on the door. His heart leaps into his throat when he hears a familiar, slightly raspy voice shout, “I’ll get it, Mother.”  
The door creaks open, and standing in the entrance is a slightly taller, slightly different Pepito. His clothes are a lot different than Squee remembers- he’s now wearing black cargo boots, tight black jeans, and a tight black t-shirt, along his little lock necklace- but his hair and horns are still the same.  
Pepito blinks with surprise at his visitors. “Todd Casil?”  
“Yeah. Hey, Pepito,” Squee smiles nervously.  
“Well, well, well. I must say you were the last person I expected to see at my door. But nevertheless I am happy to see you,” he smiles, his fangs glistening in the sunlight, “please, come in.”  
Pepito holds open the door for Squee, Johnny, Devi, and Tenna and they quickly walk in. After he closes the door behind them, he ignores the other three and focuses entirely on Squee.  
“You’ve grown a little,” Pepito observes.  
“Thanks. You too,” Squee says.  
“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to you?” he asks, “Scool was quite aggravating without you around. I was surrounded by complete idiots.”  
“Did people talk about me?” Squee asks.  
“Well, for a couple days. But eventually everyone just decided you died or something and it died down,” Pepito shrugs, “I always wondered about you though.”  
“I spent my year locked in an insane asylum,” he sighs.  
“Really? What’d you do? Did you finally snap and kill a guy?” Pepito asks excitedly.  
“No, I gave my parents over to these aliens.”  
“That’s still pretty awesome.”  
“Son, who’s here?” a dark, scary, but somehow suave voice asks. Squee clutches Shmee to his chest and Johnny groans as the Devil hovers around the corner.  
“Oh, great, this guy,” Johnny grumbles.  
“My oh my. Johnny C. and little Todd Casil,” Satan smiles a sickeningly sweet smile, “what an honour it is to have you both in my house. Now I have to ask why you’re here.”  
Satan bends down so he’s staring Squee right in the wide, fear-stricken eyes. “Don’t tell me. You’re here to join my army of darkness, right? I knew you would come to your senses eventually.”  
He reaches his dark, sharp claw towards Squee’s large head and aims to plant it on his head. Johnny snarls and steps in between them, slapping Satan’s claw away.  
“My, my. Somebody’s a little overprotective,” he comments.  
“I’m not protecting him,” Johnny snarls.  
“Um, actually, Pepito,” Squee speaks up, “we’re here to ask you something.”  
“What is it?” Pepito asks.  
“We wanna ask you about the Nightmare.”  
Pepito and Satan shut up instantly, both looking at the boy with surprise. Pepito clears his throat awkwardly and motions for them to follow him into the living room.  
“So you’re really the devil?” Devi asks Satan.  
“Yes,” he nods.  
“You’re really not what I thought you’d be,” Tenna comments.  
“I can be whatever I want to be. This is just my favorite form,” he shrugs.  
Johnny, Squee, Devi, and Tenna sit on the couch while Pepito sits on the easy chair adjacent to them. Satan hovers in front of them.  
“So you know what the Nightmare is then?” Squee asks.  
“Of course. It’s practically my job to know,” Pepito nods.  
“What about you?” Johnny asks Satan.  
“I do know what it is, but Pepito has always been a bigger expert on that supernatural stuff,” he shrugs.  
“Told you,” Squee mutters.  
“So what do you wanna know?” Pepito asks.  
“Basically everything,” Devi shrugs.  
“Alright. Then I’ll start from the beginning,” Pepito sighs.  
“The Nightmare is only one of its names. It has many different names in many different languages, but ‘Nightmare’ is probably the easiest to remember and pronounce,” he explains, “there are many theories as to how the Nightmare came to be. I’m part of the collective that believes the Nightmare is a manifestation of every negative human emotion.”  
“The Nightmare has been around for almost as long as humanity. It can’t really die because it’s not technically alive. It’s more like a force of nature, like gravity. Still it kind of ‘lives’ off human beings, in a sense, siphoning from them until they are only useless husks of flesh. Not all humans, mind you. Only the useful ones. The reason for this is because not all humans carry the sustenance the Nightmare requires.”  
“The Nightmare feeds on imagination.”  
“I knew it,” Johnny whispers.  
“Throughout history those with imagination and originality were often mocked by their peers for being ‘different’,” Pepito continues, “however, the fact is that these people are needed for the human race to advance. If people didn’t have imagination, then you’d all still be cavemen beating each other with sticks. Now while God may be completely useless, the universe itself has a tendency to even itself out. Everything must be equal; every yin must have a yang. Therefore another force was created for the sole purpose of battling the Nightmare and protecting human beings.”  
“This force became known as the Daydream.”  
“Oh, I like that,” Devi comments.  
“Unlike the Nightmare, which has created its own minions to follows its every rule- we’ll get to that in a minute though- the Daydream does not have one leader. It is a division of secular powers of light, each with its own consciousness but all with the same purpose: destroy the Nightmare.”  
“While most of these creatures stay in their little world until they are needed, some of them have come to Earth to protect humans with especially strong or uncontrollable imaginations. These agents protect the human they are assigned to from the Nightmare, keeping them and their imagination safe.”  
“In fact, we have an agent of the Daydream with us right now,” Pepito smiles as he points at the little teddy bear resting in Squee’s lap.  
“Shmee has watched over Squee ever since he was a baby, protecting him from darkness and keeping the Nightmare at bay,” he explains, “to most people he just looks like a normal teddy bear, but Squee can see him move and hear him talk because Shmee is his protector. However, animals, because they are open minded and have a sixth sense, can probably see him move as clearly as Squee. There are also some open minded humans who might catch a glimpse of the bear’s true form. Johnny, you’ve seen it, right?”  
Johnny just grunts in response as he stares curiously at the bear.  
“Moving on. Like I said, the Daydream was created for the sole purpose of battling the Nightmare. However, forces of nature cannot be destroyed that easily, not even by other forces of nature,” Pepito explains, “so instead of fighting a useless battle, the Daydream concocted a plan that would keep the Nightmare trapped and away from human beings.”  
“The plan was to pick one human being, a special person with an open mind and a strong imagination. When this person became an adult, the Daydream would use them as bait to lure the Nightmare. And when the Nightmare showed itself, the Daydream would trap it and make the person, who was previously bait, the jailor.”  
“The cage the Nightmare was trapped in is a finicky one. The Nightmare could slip out anytime, unless the door was constantly painted. Painted with blood. Lots and lots of human blood. The Daydream implanted the idea of murder into the minds of each jailor, and they would go out and get the necessary amount of blood for the door because that’s what they thought they wanted to do. The reason the jailors were never caught is because the Daydream protected them, making them almost invisible to the public and even protecting them from all deaths, except those that are natural. Every time a jailor died from natural causes- i.e. old age, or diseases- the Daydream would have another jailor ready, and the plan would repeat. Thus, this plan required plenty of human sacrifices, but the Daydream saw it necessary to protect the larger collective. And it worked. For thousands of years, this plan was successful. The Nightmare was constantly trapped and never given a second to escape.”  
“That is until the Daydream slipped up, and picked the exact wrong person as a jailor.”  
Johnny swallows hard as he starts to get an idea of where this is going.  
“The newest jailor is pretty fucked up; he already had the idea of murder implanted in his mind for many years. He still did his job, constantly painting the Nightmare’s cage with blood and keeping it trapped, but he is unstable. The Nightmare saw this weakness and chose to extort, so it could escape.”  
“Using what little powers it could, the Nightmare implanted two pieces of itself in two possessions of the jailor, creating a pair of minions. These minions became known as Psycho Doughboy and Mr. Fuck, or the Doughboys.”  
Johnny grips his jeans to keep from shuddering.  
“The minions’ purposes were to convince the jailor to free their master as well as absorb his imagination, so the Nightmare could have a meal when he escaped. However due to the Nightmare’s lack of power and control, the Doughboys ended up getting personalities of their own. Psycho Doughboy still wanted to free his master and tried many ways to stop the jailor from painting the wall with blood, even going so far as to convince him to kill himself, despite the Daydream’s protection. However, Mr. Fuck desired a different freedom. Of course he wanted his master freed, but he also wanted to be free. He didn’t want to be just the Nightmare’s minion. He wanted to be his own organism. And he believed the only way to do this was to keep the jailor alive until they siphoned all of his imagination, giving themselves life.”  
“Well, in the end the Nightmare won and freed itself, and the jailor died of natural causes- blood loss and severe trauma. Now the Nightmare is free and roaming around in a different plane of existence,” Pepito explains darkly, “for the last year or so, it’s been pretty quiet. It’s much smarter and wary of the Daydream, but it doesn’t want to be a prisoner again. So instead of attacker humans head on, like it used to, it sends minions instead. The minions siphon the imagination of its victims and brings it back to its master, so it may feast. And whose fault is this? Who was the jailor that let the Nightmare free? Why, he’s sitting right here.”  
Squee, Tenna, and Devi look over at Johnny, who is sitting nonchalantly at the end of the couch, just glaring at the floor. He lifts his eyebrow and glances at the group, and Devi’s temper snaps.  
“This is your fault!” she snaps.  
“I never said it wasn’t,” Johnny shrugs.  
“If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have to fight against these Nightmare monsters, and I wouldn’t have had to deal with Sickness,” she shouts angrily, getting ready to beat the crap out of the skinny motherfucker who nearly cost her her freedom.  
“Sickness? Ah, then you must be Devi,” Satan says thoughtfully, “I’ve heard of you. You’re the first and only person to ever break free of the Nightmare’s control and lived to tell about it. Most people have to die to be free. Proof of that is sitting on my couch.”  
“If that bastard really did die, then how the fuck is he alive now?” Devi asks.  
“Don’t know. That is one of life’s many mysterious,” he shrugs, “he didn’t belong in neither Heaven nor Hell, so I guess it just wasn’t his time. Therefore, he was brought back to life.”  
“It would’ve been better if he just stayed dead,” Devi snarls, “I might just kill him myself.”  
“Please. You don’t have the strength to kill a person,” Johnny scoffs.  
“Like that’s a good thing? You were killing people before it even became necessary. And even when it did become necessary, you failed at the only thing you’re good at and set the Nightmare free,” she barks.  
“What the fuck do you know, Devi?” Johnny snaps, jumping to his feet, “what the fuck do you know about being slave? Not only was I a slave to the Nightmare and its creepy ass Styrofoam minions, but not I’m learning that I was a slave to this Daydream thing. Fuck, that pisses me off.” He turns his attention away from Devi and focuses on Satan. “What now? Am I a slave now?”  
“No, not necessarily a slave,” Satan replies, “but I can sense it on you. Evil and darkness linger after you like smell after excrement. No, you’re not a slave. You’re the Nightmare’s plaything.”  
“I’m… a toy?” Johnny questions.  
“Precisely,” Satan nods.  
“Shit,” Nny grunts as he sits back down on the couch.  
“Exactly.”  
“Miss Devi,” Pepito speaks up, “please, sit down and let me finish my tale. Then you can beat up Johnny all you want.”  
Devi growls but sits back down.  
“The Nightmare has created plenty of minions, but most of them were only temporary. After they siphoned imagination and brought it back to their master, they disappeared, and were reabsorbed back into the Nightmare’s being,” Pepito explains, “however, there is one particular Nightmare minion that was created for a different purpose; the sole purpose of tormenting little Nny. This minion was Reverend Meat. So that proves that Johnny is indeed the Nightmare’s plaything.”  
Johnny snarls in response.  
“So how do we destroy the Nightmare?” Squee asks.  
“Destroy it? Weren’t you listening? You can’t destroy a force of nature,” Pepito replies.  
“Okay, then how do we get it to leave us alone?”  
“Hm. Well, it seems the Nightmare has recreated four past minions, as well as a new fifth one. If you can destroy these five minions, the Nightmare may be forced to leave you alone,” he explains.  
“Who are these minions?” Tenna asks.  
“The first four most of you have met before: Psycho Doughboy, Mr. Fuck, Reverend Meat, and Sickness. However, it seems like not all of them have gotten their bodies back. You cannot destroy them until they have actual bodies that can be destroyed. So they’ll have to wait.”  
“The fifth minion is new and the most powerful. Her name is Zoli and she’s a necromancer.”  
“Right. Jimmy said his master was a woman named Zoli,” Johnny states.  
“Yes. Unlike the first four minions, she is already at her full power,” Pepito says, “if you’re really dead set on destroying them, I’d suggest starting with her. She is able to create armies of the dead with a flick of her wrist, and that’s not even the worst of her powers.”  
“Do you know where we can find her?” Devi asks.  
“Father?” Pepito questions.  
“Her location isn’t exactly certain, but I’ve heard rumors,” Satan replies, “she is either somewhere in Heaven or in Hell.”  
“Well, that really narrows it down,” Johnny grunts sarcastically.  
“How are we supposed to get to Heaven and Hell?” Squee asks.  
“There is a portal located below the city that can take you to Heaven, and from Heaven it is easy enough to get to Hell,” Satan explains, “I can take you to it if you want.”  
“That’s fine, but from there, how do we get back?” Devi asks.  
“Just find me in Hell. I’ll wait for you there. I can send you back,” he replies.  
“Great,” Tenna exclaims, “let’s leave now before we lose our nerve.”  
“We should stop at our place to grab weapons and stuff,” Devi points out.  
“Very well,” Satan nods, “when you are ready to leave, meet me at the Southern Graveyard. I’ll wait until nightfall. If you do not arrive before then, I will assume you lost your nerve and leave.”  
“Fine, let’s go,” Johnny demands as he stands up. Devi cracks her knuckles and rams her fist into his shoulder. “Ow,” he grunts, annoyed.  
“When this is all over, there’ll be where that came from,” she growls as she walks past him to the door. Johnny snarls before following after her.  
One by one the crew leaves the house towards Johnny’s car. Squee is just about out the door, when Pepito suddenly grabs his shoulder and pulls him back.  
“Squee, hold up,” he demands.  
“What?” Squee asks.  
Pepito reaches into his jeans pocket and pulls out a small, black, octagonal gem, planting it in Squee’s hand. “Take this.”  
“What is it?”  
“Look, I know you don’t want to join Hell’s army and, to be completely honest, I don’t want you to join. No offense, but you’re not exactly Hell’s army material,” Pepito states.  
“None taken,” Squee says.  
Outside of the house, Johnny stops on the front walk, his ears pricked up as he listens in on the boys’ conversation. He doesn’t turn around, but he can hear clearly.  
“This gem contains the powers of a demon, a commander of the Hell’s army,” Pepito explains, “the Nightmare is a powerful foe, especially Zoli. If you feel you can’t win, then jam this gem into your heart and you will receive the dark powers of a demon commander. However, in doing so, you will inevitably join Hell’s army.”  
“But I don’t want to join,” Squee points out.  
“I know, and like I said, I don’t want you to join,” Pepito says, “but I also don’t want you to die. This gem is nothing more than a last resort. Only use it if you have absolutely no choice. I just hope it doesn’t come to that.”  
Squee stares at the gem for a second, before slipping it into his jeans pocket. “Okay. Thank you, Pepito.”  
Pepito smiles and squeezes Squee’s shoulder. “Good luck, Squee.”  
Squee smiles back before taking his leave, and following Johnny into the car. Johnny is quiet as they climb into the front seats, not sure what to make about what he just heard, but deciding not to say anything about it.  
“Where are we going?” Tenna asks.  
“We’ll stop at your apartment first then to my house so I can pick up some stuff. Then we’ll head to the graveyard, okay?” Johnny suggests.  
“Fine,” Devi nods.  
Johnny starts the car and they drive away from the antichrist’s house, none of them even daring to think about what they might be heading into.


	10. Chapter 10

“Didn’t think you would actually come,” Satan smirks. He’s leaning against someone’s grave in his human disguise.  
“Liar. That’s why you’re here,” Devi growls.  
“Are you all ready to go then?” he asks.  
“Yeah, let’s get going already,” Johnny demands.  
“Calm down, Johnny boy,” Satan sings and looks down at Squee, “and you’re going to?”  
“I wanna go,” Squee mutters.  
“Do you now? How brave,” he comments, “very well. Follow me.”  
The four of them follow Satan towards the church. He stops short, just in front of the steps. “Go inside and look for the basement. There’s a door there that will lead you underground. I will meet you there.”  
“You can’t go inside?” Tenna asks.  
“God may be useless, but his holy grounds are not,” he replies.  
“Okay, let’s go quickly, before Johnny bursts into flames,” Devi demands as she trots up the steps. Tenna giggles and follows after her. Squee is close behind. Johnny rolls his eyes at Devi’s joke, but is still a little cautious as he enters the church. Satan disappears into dark flames behind them.  
“Which way is the basement?” Tenna asks as they enter the dark church.  
“I don’t know. Let’s try this door,” Devi suggests and opens a nearby door. Behind it is a staircase, but they go up instead of down.  
“Over here,” Squee says as he points into another doorway. The crew quickly runs over to him and peeks down the staircase. They see nothing but darkness.  
“That’s not intimidating at all,” Tenna comments.  
“Yeah… you guys can go first,” Squee mumbles as he steps aside. Johnny shrugs and marches past them and down the stairs. Devi, Tenna, and Squee follow close behind. It doesn’t take them long to reach the bottom floor.  
“Damn, it’s dark down here. Where’s a light?” Devi asks as she feels along the wall.  
“Oh, here,” Tenna exclaims and flips the switch. A flickering light turns on, revealing bibles, wooden crosses, tables, and loads of dust.  
“I feel very uncomfortable here,” Johnny comments, “I think I’m gonna blow this place up later.”  
“Of course you will. Fire is how the devil always punishes people,” Devi mutters.  
“Oh, please don’t compare me to him,” Johnny groans.  
“I wouldn’t ever do that,” Devi exclaims, “the devil is ten times better than you.”  
“Guys, shut up,” Tenna snaps, “I found the door. It’s behind this shelf.”  
“Great. Let’s move it,” Devi demands. The girls grab both ends and try to push it over, but it doesn’t budge.  
“Jeez. Move over,” Johnny snaps at Tenna. He grabs the side of the shelf and knocks it down, causing dusty bibles to fly all over the room.  
“God, can’t you show even a little respect?” Devi barks.  
“Me? You’re the one using the so-called ‘Lord’s’ name in vain,” Johnny retorts.  
“Would you two stop arguing for two seconds?” Tenna snaps, “this door has no knob.”  
“Watch out,” Johnny warns as he lifts his leg. He slams his foot into the door, kicking it off its hinges. Behind it is another dark stairwell.  
“Get the lights,” he demands as he marches down the stairs. Squee follows at his heels. After Tenna flips off the light, the girls follow close behind.  
Devi takes out her phone and uses the light to illuminate their way. They walk for what seems like forever before they finally hit the ground floor.  
“You made it,” Satan observes. He’s in his usual form now and leaning against a wall made of stone.  
“Where are we?” Squee asks.  
“Underground,” Satan replies, “this city has a labyrinth of tunnels underneath the surface. There are many entrances to the tunnels throughout the city. The one in the church is the closest to the portal to Heaven.”  
“Hey, this looks familiar,” Johnny mutters, “kinda looks like the lower floors of my house.”  
“That’s not surprising. Your house leads to one of the many tunnels of the labyrinth,” Satan explains, “now follow me. The portal is just down this way.”  
The crew follows Satan down the stone hallway. He glows a creepy, luminescent red so Devi’s phone is no longer needed.  
A bright, white light appears at the end of the hall. They longer they walk to it, the brighter it grows. Satan stops abruptly and faces the crew.  
“This is as far as I go. I wish you luck on your quest and hope that I see you in Hell,” he says.  
“Right back at’cha,” Johnny replies.  
Squee squeezes Shmee to his chest as they walk past the devil and closer to the light. It becomes so bright it practically engulfs them. They’re forced to stop and cover their eyes, the light exploding around them.  
A few seconds later, the light disappears. They uncover their eyes and look around.  
They’re standing on a dirty sidewalk surrounded by garbage and overflowing wastebaskets. Overtop of them is a large sign reading ‘This is Heaven. You can stop praying now’ and flying around them are weird little bunny things.  
“Whoa, déjà vu,” Johnny mutters.  
“This is Heaven?” Devi asks.  
“That’s what the sign says,” Tenna nods.  
“Not what I was expecting,” she comments.  
“What now?” Squee asks.  
“We go this way,” Johnny replies. They stride down the sidewalk, towards an administration stand. Standing behind it is a long-faced man with weird hair and strange glasses. He appears to be reading some kind of book, before looking up at the newcomers.  
He gasps and perks up. “You!” he exclaims, his long fingers pointing straight at Johnny.  
“Security, we have a problem at the entrance,” he shouts into a walky-talky, “prepare for transport to Hell.”  
“Uh oh,” Johnny sighs as two large angels appear behind him. They hook his arms and drag him back down the sidewalk, away from the administration desk.  
“Johnny?” Squee exclaims.  
“Don’t worry about me. You guys see if you can track down Zoli here. I’ll look around Hell,” Johnny shouts as the buff angels shove him past the sign. He stumbles backwards and falls back onto the cement. He glares at the angels and starts to stand up, but before he can get to his feet, his whole body gets engulfed in bright red flames.  
The fire disappears, and Johnny goes with them.  
“Now that was kind of cool,” Tenna comments.  
“Will he be okay?” Squee asks.  
“He said not to worry,” Devi shrugs, “so we should just focus on finding this Zoli. Let’s ask this weird person.”  
They walk up to the administration desk. The angel looks up at them suspiciously.  
“You guys aren’t dead,” he states.  
“Very observant,” Tenna comments.  
“Do you know where we can find a person named Zoli?” Devi asks.  
“That depends,” the angel growls, “are you friends with that fiend, Johnny?”  
“No,” Devi snaps.  
“Not at all,” Tenna agrees.  
“So where’s Zoli?” she asks.  
“I’ve heard of her, but I don’t know where she is,” the angel replies, “she’s kind of like you guys, as in not dead. Sometimes she shows up here and just wanders around.”  
“Can we look around for her?” Tenna asks.  
“I suppose. But don’t cause any trouble,” he warns.  
“Thanks,” Devi chimes and leads the way into a large hallway. They march into a dull light and out of the hall.  
“What the hell? This is Heaven?” Devi asks as they look around. All they see are thousands of different people sitting on chairs, staring off into space. Nobody moves for any reason, not even to scratch an itch or shift into a more comfortable position.  
Squee walks up to a nearby man and waves his hand in front of his face. He doesn’t blink or respond in any way.  
“It’s kind of creepy,” Squee comments.  
“Hey, this sign says we’re in Lot A,” Tenna says, “how many lots do you think this place has?”  
“Oh, man, this is going to take forever,” Devi groans, “can we even ask anyone for help?”  
“Excuse me? Hello?” Squee says loudly as he jumps around multiple souls, waving his arms and even pushing shoulders, but none of them respond.  
“Jeezus, this place pisses me off,” Devi shouts, “how can these people be in Heaven and yet still be so rude?”  
She looks at a random guy and glares a hole into his forehead. However, something worse than a hole appears; his entire head explodes.  
“Whoa!” Devi, Tenna, and Squee exclaim as blood, bones, and random bits of gore fly all over the place. They stare, bewildered at the severed-head man, but slowly calm down when his head appears again.  
“Holy fuck, that was awesome!” Tenna exclaims.  
“Could you please not do that again,” the man suggests.  
“Uh, sorry. But since you appear to be conscience, could I ask you a question?” Devi asks.  
“I suppose,” he sighs.  
“Do you know a person named Zoli?”  
“No, sorry. Never heard of anyone like that,” he replies, “now go away and leave me to my bliss.”  
“Hey, don’t just blow me off,” Devi snaps, but the man ignores, returning to his catatonic state.  
“Don’t ignore me, you fucker!” she shouts and shakes his shoulders.  
“You really shouldn’t curse in Heaven,” a male voice scolds behind them, “very disrespectful.”  
They turn around to see two men standing beside them. One of them has a long head and a scar on his forehead, while the other has messy black hair and piercings in his eyebrow and nose. Squee instantly recognizes the man with the long head.  
“You’re that… potato head guy!” Squee exclaims.  
“It’s Krik,” he snaps.  
“Nice to meet you all,” the other guy smirks, “I’m Dillon.”  
“What do you fuckers want?” Devi asks.  
“We’re Zoli’s minions, you see,” Krik replies, “we’re here to escort you to her.”  
“Really?” Tenna exclaims happily.  
“Tenna,” Devi hisses. She grabs Squee’s shoulder and pulls him back behind her. He doesn’t resist it.  
“We’d never go with scarred up, half dead, zombie freaks like you,” she growls.  
“Scarred up? Oh, you mean these?” Dillon asks as he points at the many scars littering his body, “most of these were caused by your friend, Johnny. He cut out half of Krik’s brain, and would often torture me with horrible electric shocks. The rest of these were caused by the lord, Nightmare. I treasure them.”  
“Freak,” Tenna exclaims.  
“Now, now. You wanna find Lady Zoli, don’t you? What’s easier than bringing you to her?” Krik asks.  
“Why does she want us?” Devi asks.  
“Ours is not to question her will, but to follow it,” Dillon replies.  
“Did she teach you that phrase?” she hisses.  
“How’d you know?” he exclaims.  
“Dillon, shut up,” Krik snaps.  
“Dumbasses,” Devi scoffs.  
“Be nice, little girl. I would hate to have to force you to come to Lady Zoli,” Krik growls.  
“Sorry, dick. We aren’t going with anyone, least of all you,” she snaps.  
“If it’s a fight you want,” Dillon smirks, “it’s a fight you will lose.”  
“You have no idea what we’re made for,” Tenna grins, “we’re two girls you do not want to mess with.”  
“What about the little fag?” Krik asks. Squee whimpers and hides behind Devi.  
“You aren’t getting him either,” Devi growls as she reaches into her coat. In a flash of dark grey, she whips out her handgun and blasts a bullet into Krik’s head. It smashes in between his eyes, but he’s not fazed.  
“How rude. And completely useless,” Krik snarls. He charges them, his fist pulled back. He swings and Devi just barely manages to dodge.  
Devi grabs the back of Squee’s shirt and tugs him away from the zombies. Tenna follows close behind them as they run around the blissing, oblivious souls. Krik and Dillon are right behind them.  
Tenna draws her gun and shoots at the zombies. But nobody how many times she hits them, they’re never fazed.  
“Don’t waste your bullets, Tenna,” Devi snaps, “you gotta hit them harder.”  
She shoves Squee in front of her and spins around, the large treads of her shoes digging into the dirt. She focuses on Krik’s head, her eyes narrowing like an animal.  
Krik and Dillon are startled by the sudden stop but before they can react, Krik’s head explodes into a million pieces. Dillon slides to a stop as Krik’s body falls like bricks onto the ground.  
“Bulls eye,” Devi exclaims.  
“Woohoo!” Tenna cheers.  
“I can do that too, you little bitch,” Dillon snaps as he glares at Devi. But before he can do anything, his head blows up and Tenna cheers victoriously. Unfortunately, they don’t get long to celebrate before Krik’s head starts regenerating.  
“Oh, shit,” Devi hisses before facing Squee, “listen to me, Squee. You gotta run and don’t come back. We’ll come find you when we can. Just get away from here. You’ll be safer that way.”  
“But-but,” Squee stammers nervously.  
“Listen to her, Squee,” Shmee demands from his arms.  
He whimpers but spins around and runs. Devi watches him for a few seconds before facing the zombies.  
“Let’s dance, fuckers,” she smirks, Tenna standing at her side. Dillon and Krik snarl and stand up.  
Krik focuses on Devi’s head, but before he can do any damage, she jumps out of the way and he loses his focus. She rolls behind a soul’s chair and turns to Krik, blasting his head with her awesome head-explody powers.  
“Tenna, stay on your toes. Don’t let them focus on your head,” Devi shouts.  
“Got it, Captain,” Tenna replies as she slides across the dirt, blowing up Dillon’s head. Just before his body can hit the ground, Tenna reaches into her jacket and pulls out a large digital camera. She lifts it over her face and snaps a perfect picture of Dillon’s vital head pieces flying all over the environment. “This is the coolest street fight I’ve ever been in.”  
“Those bitches are too fast,” Krik pants as his head finishes regenerating, “I can’t get a lock on them.”  
“What are we going to do about that kid? He ran away,” Dillon says, “should we get help?”  
“No way. This is our mission,” Krik snaps, “you go look for him. Just wait until those bitches aren’t looking this way.”  
“Got it,” Dillon nods and they jump to their feet.  
A few feet away, Devi and Tenna duck behind a couple of souls, panting heavily.  
“That head-explody thing is pretty cool, but it really wipes you out,” Devi groans.  
“Quiet, Krik is coming,” Tenna warns as she looks between the chairs.  
“Where’s Dillon?” she asks and looks around, but doesn’t see the hipster zombie anywhere, “he’s gone.”  
“What? Where’d he go?” Tenna asks, but they reach the conclusion at the same time.  
“Squee!”  
Meanwhile, Squee races through the lot and around the souls at full speed. He sees a large tunnel ahead of him and decides that would be the best place to hide.  
He dives into the tunnel and curls up in the darkness, his little heart pounding hard. When he’s calmed down a little, he sticks Shmee into his sweater and zips it up to his neck.  
“You’ll be safe in there,” Squee mutters.  
“You’re the one that needs to stay safe,” Shmee points out, “get moving. Don’t stay in one place for too long.”  
Squee nods and stands up. As soon as he reaches his feet, he feels a menacing presence behind him. He turns around and standing behind him is a smirking Dillon.  
“Found ya, you little fag-lit.”  
Squee squeaks and starts to back away. He’s a master at running away from enemies, but once they’ve caught him, he’s unfortunately screwed.  
He tries to run away, but Dillon’s skinny arms wrap around him quickly. “Come here,” he snaps as he holds him tight. Squee tries to wiggle free, but it’s no use. He’s caught.  
The last thing he sees are dozens of heads exploding before bright red flames engulfs his body.


	11. Chapter 11

Johnny slams face first into the asphalt. He groans and sits up, dusting gravel out of his hair.  
“Well, that was annoying as fuck,” he grunts. He stands up and stretches the stiffness out of his bones. “But at least I’m by myself again. Now I have to find this Zoli person. What’s the best way to do that?”  
He takes in a quick survey of his surroundings. He appears to be in an alley. He follows the nearby chatter onto a main street. He shudders at the many people marching down the sidewalk, the hatred practically dripping off them. It’s possible that any one of them could be Zoli. But how can he find out?  
“No choice,” he sighs, “I’m gonna have to ask around.”  
He walks over to a woman loitering against a building wall. She looks at him like he just interrupted something incredibly important.  
“Excuse me, do you happen to know somebody named Zoli?” Johnny asks.  
“The fuck kind of stupid question is that? Zoli’s not even a name,” she snaps.  
Johnny growls, but takes a deep breath and attempts to control his rage. “Thank you for your time,” he croaks and quickly lumbers past her.  
I’m not going to get anyway if I attack every asshole that gets lippy with me. I have to control my anger and remain calm.  
That lasts a whole twenty seconds, when he slams a mouthy asshole’s face through a window.  
He pants as pieces of glass and blood drip from his hand. Then spits and stomps away.  
Johnny spends the next hour asking civilians about Zoli, then smashing their faces into nearby objects when they snap at him. There’d be a warpath of blood and bodies behind him if they didn’t heal immediately after.  
“Well, in my defense I wouldn’t be getting anywhere even without violence,” he says to himself, “these people don’t seem to know anything about Zoli. Maybe she’s hiding out in Heaven.”  
“I’ll ask one more person then find a place to eat,” he decides.  
He walks up to a girl reading a newspaper. “Excuse me?”  
She lowers her newspaper and turns to him. He flinches at the sight of her face. Though he doesn’t remember her name, he does remember her short, black hair and her small, round glasses.  
“Uh oh,” he sighs.  
“Indeed,” she nods, “sorry, but you’re going to have to come with me.”  
“Do I have a choice?” he asks.  
“Of course. You can choose to go the easy way or the hard way.” She takes out a pair of handcuffs to prove her point.  
He shrugs. “Eh, I’ll come. I have a feeling you’re gonna take me to who I want to see anyway.”  
“That’s good. But I’m afraid I have to put the handcuffs on you anyway,” she says.  
“Why’s that?” he asks but doesn’t resist as she locks his hands up behind his back.  
“Multiple reasons. Mostly for a precaution, a little for revenge,” she replies.  
“Revenge?” he questions.  
She shoves his shoulder hard, causing him to stumble forward a little. “You had my arms tied above my head for so long. Do you have any idea how uncomfortable that is?”  
“I’m afraid I don’t. But I do get glimpses,” he replies.  
She growls and grabs his elbow, tugging him none to gently down the road. He struggles to keep up with her without losing his balance.  
They walk through the streets like this for many uncomfortable minutes. None of the passersby even bats an eye. Johnny, despite himself, attempts to soften the situation with some conversation.  
“Excuse me, Miss. I do not recall your name, but I do however remember what victim you were,” he says.  
“How sensitive of you,” she growls.  
“Just listen. I remember you. You were not one of my more hated victims,” he explains, “you were just a lost girl who happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time, hanging out with the wrong guy. And I could tell you understood that. All you wanted to do was fit in. You just didn’t want to be alone anymore.”  
“I was never actually planning to kill you, believe it or not. I just wanted to punish you for thinking that hanging out with assholes is something a girl like you could’ve been doing. You deserved so much better.”  
She stops walking and looks at him. “You really think that?”  
He shrugs and nods.  
She sighs and straightens her glasses. “I knew that. I knew I deserved better friends than those dicks I spent time with. But whenever I tried to make some normal friends, they always considered me abnormal. I didn’t want to be lonely so I thought my only choices were to either conform myself to ‘normality’ or get stuck being friends with people I hate. I picked the latter.”  
“But then I discovered that being alone isn’t so bad, if it means being who you want to be,” she concludes, “oddly enough, I discovered that while escaping your house.”  
“Sometimes being alone is the best choice, even if it’s painful,” Johnny agrees.  
“My name’s Tess by the way,” she says.  
“Johnny. Oh, but I guess you knew that.”  
“Yeah,” she nods, “well, sorry, Johnny, but I still gotta take you to my master. I don’t really have a choice.”  
“It’s fine. I wanna meet her anyway,” he shrugs.  
They walk a bit more smoothly this time, the silence not so awkward. But Johnny still breaks it, for the sake of questioning.  
“So, Miss Tess. Your… uh… colleague, Jimmy, explained a lot about the Nightmare’s minions,” he explains, “like how this Zoli person has five main zombie minions who can talk, regenerate, and think intelligently- though he wasn’t exactly the best example of that last point. I already know that he and Krik are two of them. So I suppose you’re a third.”  
“That’s right,” Tess nods.  
“Who are the other two?” he asks.  
“I can’t tell you. Lady Zoli’s orders,” she replies, “we’re not allowed to reveal the identities of the other zombie generals, except for the ones you know of course. But I can tell you that all five of them were chosen specifically because of their relationship with you. They were all different in one way or another from your other victims.”  
“Yes, I understand,” Nny nods, “Jimmy was definitely different because he was a disgusting idiot who was stupid enough to think he could join me; you’re different because you’re the only person I ever actually thought about letting go, and also because you and Krik tried to escape my house when the universe was falling apart… or something. So how would the other two be different?”  
“You’ll have plenty of time to think about that when you’re being interrogated by Lady Zoli,” Tess says as she leads him into a large building.  
The hallway is dark and the many doors are closed. But there’s a dim light near the end of the corridor.  
Johnny walks along anxiously, nervousness and excitement bubbling in his gut. He’s about to meet the supposedly most powerful Nightmare minion. He’s got incredibly mixed feelings.  
They turn into the lit room. It’s pretty empty, except for a table and a couple of chairs on the other side of the room. There is a woman sitting in a chair, her back turned to the pair.  
“Milady, I brought Johnny,” Tess announces.  
The woman stands up. She turns to them and smirks. “Excellent.”  
Johnny is surprised at the sight of the zombie ruler. Unlike the three Nightmare minions he knows, she looks very human, except for her dark red eyes and sharp fangs. Her black hair nearly reaches down to her ankles. She’s wearing a black trench coat with a gray shoulder strap, a dark green tube top, matching short shorts with a leather belt, and knee high black boots. Wrapped around her neck is a black choker with an upside down, red cross.  
She looks incredibly excited when her eyes land on Johnny. Her face brightens up and she takes a step forward. In less than a second, her face is inches away from Johnny’s.  
“So you’re the famous Johnny C.,” she says, “I’m Zoli. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”  
“It might be if you move back a little,” Johnny grunts.  
“Oh, yeah. The Lord told me you have some ‘personal space’ problems,” she nods, a seductive grin on her face, “I have to admit, you’re a lot cuter than I imagined.” She runs her thumb under his bottom lip. “And I really like cute boys.”  
She presses her lips against his. But to her dismay, except for his eyes widening a little, Johnny doesn’t react in any way. She pulls back and cocks her head at him.  
“Is that your attempt to seduce me?” he asks, “if it is then you’ll have to do a lot better than that.”  
Zoli pouts. “Interesting. Most of the guys I kissed immediately fell for me.” Her pout suddenly turns back into a smirk. “You’re different from other men. I think I’m falling for you. It’s too bad you’re the Lord’s toy, or we’d have loads of fun together.”  
“Ugh. I’d rather be the Nightmare’s toy instead of yours,” Johnny shudders.  
She giggles and hugs herself. “Oh, you’re going to turn me into masochist.”  
“Milady, please,” Tess sighs.  
“Oh, fine,” Zoli groans, “onto business.”  
“What business?” Johnny asks.  
“Today my job is to convince you to join the Nightmare,” Zoli replies as she walks over to the table. “Have a seat.”  
Johnny shrugs and sits down, but not at the table. Instead he sits against the wall beside the table.  
“I meant in a chair,” Zoli clarifies.  
“I like it better here,” Johnny states.  
“Suit yourself,” she shrugs and turns her chair so she’s facing him.  
“Alright, let’s make this quick so no more of our time gets wasted,” Johnny growls, “there is no way in hell I am ever going to join the Nightmare. Case closed.”  
“Nny, you’re too hasty,” Zoli sighs, “uh, may I call you Nny?”  
“You may not,” he states.  
“I’m going to anyway.”  
“Alright, let me just ask you something super quick,” Johnny orders, “I get why the Nightmare wants me. I’m apparently its toy. But why does it also seem enamoured with Devi, Tenna, and Squee?”  
“Well, that’s simple,” Zoli replies, “ever since Squee could write, the Nightmare has wanted him. I’m sure you know it feeds on imagination, and Squee has quite a lot. However, he is also protected by the Daydream, the one thing that can keep the Nightmare and its minions at bay. So Squee is a challenge as well as a meal to the Lord.”  
“Devi is great painter, but she is also the first person to ever defeat a Nightmare minion out of pure strength of will. Like Squee, she is also a challenge and a meal. Tenna is a special case. While she does have some imagination, she isn’t really worth the time. But she got mixed up in all this so we figured ‘why not’ you know?”  
“Uh…huh,” Johnny mumbles.  
“I’m going to be completely blunt with you. The Nightmare only wants Devi, Tenna, and Squee for sustenance,” Zoli explains, “But, Nny, you’re different. You’d be kept alive. The Nightmare likes you, it finds you interesting. It would take care of you. You would be protected way better than the Daydream. You could have anything you’d ever want. You could be happy. And all you’d have is give yourself, body and soul, to the Nightmare.”  
“Happy as a slave?” Johnny spits, “isn’t that the estranged mother of oxymorons?”  
“Okay, so the Nightmare would control you, but you wouldn’t be a slave because you’d be paid,” Zoli argues, “join us, Nny. Join us and be awarded protection and happiness.”  
“Alright, let’s get something straight, Zoli,” Johnny snaps, “the only reason I came here was to kill you, so the Nightmare would leave me alone. I have no intention of joining you. I am a slave to nothing!”  
“Ha! Kill me?” Zoli guffaws, “you think it’d be that easy? I was created for the sole purpose of capturing you, Nny. I can never be killed.”  
“Why? Because it goes against your purpose?”  
“Not just that.” She kneels in front of Johnny, and shows him the choker around her neck. “You see this? This represents my loyalty to my Lord. I live to please the Nightmare. That alone gives me enough strength to be invincible.”  
“Get it through your thick head, you crazy demon bitch!” Johnny shouts, “I will defeat you. All of you! The Nightmare will not win.”  
His pupils constrict so much they’re nearly invisible. “Nobody fucks with Johnny C.”  
Zoli flinches, despite herself, as she looks into his eyes. Those aren’t the eyes of a human.  
They’re the eyes of a beast.  
“Lady Zoli,” a voice sings down the hall. Zoli immediately regains her composure as a zombie slides into the room.  
“You. I remember you,” Johnny states, “you’re that asshole that was hanging with Tess at the movies when we first met. You’re one of the zombie generals?”  
“Dillon,” Tess sighs.  
“What’s this? A party? And I wasn’t invited?” Dillon gasps sarcastically.  
“Stop trying to be cute, Dillon,” Zoli snaps, “you better not be here empty handed.”  
“And I assure, Milady, I am not,” he smirks and reaches behind his back, “I caught a little fag-lit.”  
He whips out Squee, holding the boy off the floor by his shoulders. He tries to squirm out of Dillon’s grip, but he digs his fingers into his arms. Squee yelps and hangs there, trembling.  
“Squee!” Johnny exclaims.  
“Excellent work, Dillon,” Zoli squeals. She skips over to him and gives him a quick peck on the cheek.  
“Eh, it was easy,” Dillon laughs and shakes the boy back and forth.  
“Dillon! He’s just a kid. Be a little nicer,” Tess snaps.  
“Aw, Tess, you’re too soft,” he scolds, “so what if he’s a kid? He’s still our enemy. And I’ll be as rough as I want.” He makes his point by smacking the back of Squee’s head.  
Johnny’s eye twitches angrily.  
“Dillon’s right, Tess. You are too soft,” Zoli agrees. She bends down and examines Squee’s face. “So you’re the great, imaginative Squee. Not very remarkable looking, are you?”  
She begins to reach forward to touch his face, but before her fingers can even make contact, a great shock travels up her arms. She exclaims in pain and jumps back, cradling her hand.  
“Milady?” Dillon exclaims.  
“Open his jacket!” Zoli demands. Dillon quickly opens Squee’s sweater, and out tumbles Shmee.  
“An agent of the Daydream,” Zoli hisses, “no wonder I can’t touch him.”  
“What now, Milady?” Dillon asks.  
“You can touch the boy,” she observes, “it must be because you’re not as closely connected to the Nightmare as I am.” She reaches into her coat then tosses him a pair of handcuffs. “Fine, then you lock him up. Leave the bear where it is.”  
“Yes, Milady,” Dillon nods. He lets go of Squee for a split second to catch and open the cuffs. Squee tries to use the chance to escape, but Dillon catches him by the back of his sweater. “Nice try, fag-lit.”  
As Dillon fiddles with the cuffs and tries to hold onto Squee at the same time, Zoli turns to Johnny and smirks. “Two down, two to go. Now Krik just has to capture those girls and we win.”  
“Krik is going up against Devi and Tenna?” Johnny exclaims then scoffs, “good luck with that. Those girls are a force to be reckoned with. And I wouldn’t underestimate Squee either.”  
“Why’s that? We already have him,” she points out.  
Nny smirks and nods at Dillon. Zoli turns around and squeals, “Dillon!”  
Dillon is still fiddling with the handcuffs and holding onto Squee, or so he thinks. But when he looks up, he sees his mistake. At one point, Squee managed to slip out of his sweater and escape the room, completely unnoticed.  
“Ack! I-I didn’t even realize,” Dillon stammers.  
“The bear is gone too!” Zoli exclaims, “quickly, after him! We can’t let him get away now.”  
“Yes, ma’am,” Dillon nods frantically and tries to run out of the room, but slams into the doorframe instead.  
“You are a hopeless idiot,” Zoli barks and chases after him, “Tess, come on. Help us find him.”  
“Yes, Milady,” Tess sighs. She starts to chase after them, but Johnny interrupts her.  
“Nothing much has changed, huh? You’re still hanging with assholes,” he comments.  
“Not like I have much of a choice,” she growls.  
“Everyone has a choice. Even a not-so mindless zombie,” he argues.  
Tess doesn’t say anything in response. Just runs out of the room.  
Johnny shrugs and continues trying to break out of the cuffs.  
Meanwhile a few feet down the hall, Squee ducks into a random room and hides under a nearby table. He clutches Shmee to his chest and lies as flat as possible. His heart leaps into his throat when he hears loud, frantic voices and heavy footsteps.  
“He couldn’t have gotten far. And he doesn’t know his way around here,” Zoli shouts, “find him quickly.”  
“I’m looking, I’m looking,” Dillon squeaks as he runs down the hall. Tess lags behind him, peeking into every room. She stops a second when she looks in the room Squee is hiding in.  
She walks in and right over to the table he’s under. Squee grips his mouth as he stares at Tess’ shoes. But to his relief, she leaves soon after, closing the door behind her as she catches up to Dillon and Zoli.  
Squee sighs with relief. He waits until the voices disappears then crawls out from under the table. As he stands up, something catches his eye on the tabletop. He looks over and notices a silver key. He quickly picks it up and looks it over.  
“Do you think this unlocks Johnny’s cuffs?” he asks.  
“It’s too dangerous to check,” Shmee replies, “we don’t know when they’ll be back. We should escape while we can.”  
“I don’t know my way around here. And besides, I can’t just leave him,” Squee argues.  
Shmee sighs. “Fine. But be quick.”  
Squee smiles and moves the bear to his head. He peeks out into the hall, listening carefully, then runs back to the room.  
Johnny grunts and groans as he fiddles with his handcuffs. “It is much harder breaking out of cuffs when I can’t see what I’m doing,” he comments as he strains to look behind his back.  
He notices someone enter the room and his stomach does a flip. “Squee?”  
“Yeah,” he nods as he quickly walks over.  
“What the hell are you doing?” Johnny shouts, “you escaped! You shouldn’t have come back for me! It’s way too dangerous!”  
Squee flinches. “I-I’m sorry. It’s just I found this key and-and I thought maybe,” he whimpers, unable to finish his sentence.  
Johnny sighs. “Alright, alright. Quit snivelling. Just unlock me already so we can get out of here.”  
Squee nods and bends down. He sticks the key into Johnny’s cuffs and turns it every which way, but it doesn’t budge. He begins to feel a bit of despair, when the cuffs finally unlock. Johnny throws them off and stands up.  
“Alright, let’s get the hell out of here,” he growls. Squee nods and they race out of the room and down the hall.  
They move quickly but cautiously, ready to duck into a room if need be. Fortunately they make it out of the building without getting caught. But as soon as they step out of the door, Zoli’s angry voice reaches their ears. The boys rush down the alley and duck behind a nearby building, just before Zoli and her zombies turn the corner.  
“I can’t believe we fucking lost him,” she shouts.  
“I’m sorry, Milady,” Dillon sighs.  
“It doesn’t matter. I have minions crawling all over the place,” she smirks, “he won’t get far.”  
Johnny snarls. She only has Tess and Dillon with her. I could jump out now and slice her throat before anyone knew what was happening. Slice her throat and finish her off, right now.  
Johnny tenses up as he prepares to charge Zoli. But before he can, Squee suddenly grabs his arm and stops.  
“Don’t go,” he whispers, “Shmee says it’s dangerous. There are more of them.”  
“More of who?” Johnny asks. As if on cue, a large group of zombies turn the corner and follow Zoli into the building. Johnny groans at the many familiar faces of his victims. There are too many of them. He’ll never get to Zoli now.  
“Fine, no choice,” he sighs, “we’re going to have to abort the mission for now. Come on.”  
To his dismay, Johnny forces himself to turn around and lead Squee away from Zoli and her zombies. Squee is relieved about it though.  
They jog down the alleyway and take a quick peek at the main road. Johnny allows his heart to feel heavy for a few seconds when he realizes every other person he looks at is one of his past victims. They’re everywhere, and they no doubt know who they’re looking for.  
“We’re in trouble,” he admits.  
Squee sighs and looks at the sky. “I hope the girls are having a better time than we are.”


	12. Chapter 12

Krik focuses on Devi and Tenna’s heads. They jump behind a couple of blissing and their heads explode instead.  
“He’s getting better,” Tenna comments.  
“Yeah, but he’s got a short attention span,” Devi chuckles. She gets serious even faster. “We have to go find Squee before Dillon does.”  
“It might be too late,” Tenna sighs, “we have no idea where either of them are.”  
“Well, let’s lose this guy first,” Devi growls. As if on cue, Krik jumps up behind them. Devi and Tenna race away from their hiding place, making all sorts of zigzags so Krik will have a hard time focusing on them.  
“Sit still!” he shouts and explodes about five different heads, none of which Devi or Tenna’s.  
The girls duck behind a couple of chairs, gasping for breath.  
“I’m sick of playing cat-and-mouse,” Devi snarls, “Tenna, we’re taking the initiative.”  
“Awesome!” Tenna cheers, “what are we going to do?”  
Devi smirks as a crude, evil plan forms in her mind.  
Krik stalks around the blissing like a mad animal searching for his prey. Unfortunately for Krik, some prey bites back. Especially the prey he’s searching for.  
He looks up as Tenna steps out from around the chairs. She rests her fists on her hips and smiles at him.  
“A-ha! Got you!” he exclaims and aims to blow up her head, not even considering the odd fact that she’s not moving.  
A shocking, burning pain suddenly explodes from his groin and reverberates all over his body. He flies off the ground a couple of inches as Devi’s leg slams into his crotch. He tries to open his mouth to scream, but all that comes out is a tiny, little squeak.  
Devi smirks and removes her leg. Krik slams face first into the ground as he clutches his poor, most-likely-shattered shaft.  
“Well, your nuts must be in your throat,” Devi laughs, “gives a whole new definition to the term ‘deep-throating’. Next time you’ll know not to mess with us.”  
“Yeah!” Tenna exclaims as she runs by him, exploding his head along the way. The girls laugh cruelly as they race away from the damaged Krik.  
“So what now?” Tenna asks.  
“We have to assume that Dillon got to Squee. But I don’t think he would hurt him,” Devi replies.  
“Where do you think they are?”  
“Not in Heaven. I think they went to Hell.”  
“Great. So how do we get there?”  
“We’ll take the same route as Johnny.”  
The run out of the lot and into the first hall, exiting into the entrance of Heaven. They race over to the receptionist angel and slam his desk.  
“We need to get to Hell!” they exclaim simultaneously.  
“I’m sorry. I can’t just send you to Hell,” the angel replies like it’s so damn obvious.  
“Why not?” Tenna whines.  
“We need a reason to send somebody to Hell from Heaven,” he explains impatiently.  
Devi quickly loses her temper and grabs the angel by the front of his shirt. “How is this for a reason: send us to Hell now or I will shove those funny looking glasses so far down your throat, they’ll come out the other end!”  
The angel trembles for a second before grabbing his walkie-talkie. “Security, we need two unruly females transported to Hell.”  
“Thank you,” Devi grunts, letting go of his shirt as two large angels appear behind them. The receptionist angel sighs with relief as the girls disappear in a bright, flourish of fire.  
They slam into the cement hard. They groan as they sit up, rubbing their backs.  
“We are going to have so many bruises when we get home,” Tenna sighs.  
Devi surveys their surroundings, and her face suddenly falls. “Bruises will be the last thing we need to worry about.”  
“What do you- oh,” Tenna moans as she looks around. They’re completely surrounding by staggering, scarred up, growling zombies.  
“Shit! Hell is infested!” Devi exclaims as they jump to their feet.  
“What do we do?” Tenna asks frantically.  
Three of the zombies suddenly lose their heads. Their bodies fall to the ground, revealing their attacker.  
“Run!” Johnny snaps.  
“Johnny?” Devi questions.  
“Don’t talk, just go!” he demands and steps aside. “This way.”  
Devi and Tenna rush past him, nearly running into Squee. He smiles at them and leads them down the road, away from the horde of zombies. Johnny follows close behind, cutting up any zombies that come close to them.  
“Fuck, they’re everywhere,” he curses.  
“You actually killed this many people?” Devi snaps.  
“Yeah. It’s kinda weird seeing them all again,” he replies, “I don’t really remember what they all did, but seeing their faces has caused a lot of my harboured resentment to rise up again. And taking into account all the resentment I have that isn’t harboured… well, let’s just say this is really bad for my blood pressure. Fortunately there’s an easy way to fix that.”  
He swings his knives and slices two zombies right down the middle. He slams his foot into another, sending it through a window.  
Just when he’s about to catch up with Squee and the others, a zombie grabs his arm. Before he can react, it bites him, its teeth digging through his jacket, his shirt, and right into his skin.  
Johnny grunts with pain and surprise. He stabs his knife through the zombie’s head and tries to push it off. Then another grabs him and bites into his shoulder.  
“Johnny!” Squee exclaims. Devi and Tenna quickly grab him before he can run over to help.  
The entire zombie army starts swarming him. He tries to escape, but they have him in their vice grip jaws. Squee and the others soon lose sight of him.  
“We have to help!” Tenna exclaims.  
“But we can’t go near them,” Devi argues.  
Squee stays silent, just watching the scene and squeezing Shmee.  
Something explodes in the midst of the zombie mountain. Pieces of zombies fly off in all directions, smashing into the buildings. Black smoke plumes from the fire caused by the explosion. Johnny suddenly stumbles out of it, hacking up a lung. He leans against a nearby building until his coughing fit stops.  
He is covered in bite marks. Including the two he already had on his arm and shoulder, he’s also acquired one on the left side of his stomach, another just below his right hip, and a third just under his left knee. He examines himself distastefully.  
“Well, that’s disgusting,” he grunts.  
“Johnny!” Squee exclaims happily and runs over to him.  
“Did you just try to blow yourself up?” Devi asks.  
“No. I tried to blow up the zombies,” he replies, “I just got caught in it.”  
“Where did you get a bomb?” Tenna asks.  
“I always have bombs,” he shrugs like it’s no big deal, “but that’s not the issue. We have to find Satan so we can get out of here.”  
“What about Zoli?” Devi asks.  
Johnny flinches, like he just got slapped in the face. “She’s… going to have to wait.”  
“You found her? Why didn’t you kill her? Can’t you do anything right?”  
“Obviously not, Princess. Haven’t you noticed that?”  
“Guys, this is not the time,” Tenna exclaims impatiently, “the zombies are coming. Let’s go.”  
“Fine,” Devi growls.  
They race down the road, no real destination in mind. They gain some good ground on the zombies, but Johnny lags a little behind them. Not so he can kill any zombies that get closer, but because he’s having trouble moving his legs. Or more specifically his entire body.  
As they turn a corner, Johnny groans and falls against a wall. He pants as his vision blurs around him.  
“How can I be suffering from blood loss? I’m already dead, aren’t I?” he asks to no one in particular.  
“Not quite,” a strange, female voice sings. Johnny looks to his side and sees a familiar, white-eyed cheerleader. He jumps and slams into the wall.  
“Ugh. Satan,” he grunts.  
“Right you are, rah rah!” he- she?- cheers.  
“You’re Satan?” Tenna asks, “nice costume change.”  
“Thank you. Oddly enough this is the only one of my forms that makes Johnny squirm,” Satan laughs.  
“What did you mean by ‘not quite’?” Squee asks.  
“I meant none of you are actually dead,” he replies, “that portal to Heaven you took doesn’t kill you. It merely defies the laws of physics to transport your living self to the world of the dead.”  
“Ah, of course,” Devi says sarcastically.  
“That means that any damage you receive here, your psychical body is also receiving,” Satan concludes.  
“Damn. Then I guess it’s a good thing Krik couldn’t blow up our heads,” Tenna comments.  
“Anyway, I see you failed in killing Zoli,” Satan sings, waving his pompoms around, “but I guess I should teleport you back to Earth before you get into even more trouble.”  
“Anytime would be great,” Devi nods.  
“Will we lose our hair?” Johnny asks, “cause mine just grew back.”  
“No, that was a different spell used to revive the dead,” Satan replies, “this spell just teleports you back to Earth. Here we go.”  
Just as the zombies turn the corner, Satan, Johnny, Devi, Tenna, and Squee are engulfed in a bright light. They disappear in a flash, and all the zombies can do is cock their heads before wandering off aimlessly.


	13. Chapter 13

Johnny strips off his clothes and climbs into the running shower. He jolts when the hot water seeps into his bite wounds.  
“Stings like a motherfucker,” he sighs. He stands still for a few minutes until the pain disappears. Then he squirts some shampoo into his hand and begins washing his hair.  
He can’t get Zoli out of his head, which really isn’t anything new since Johnny can hold a grudge for a really long time over something that’s not a real big deal. But Zoli especially pisses him off. He should’ve killed her when he had the chance.  
He grunts with frustration and slams his fist into the porcelain wall. Then soap flies into his eyes and he gets mad for a whole other reason.  
He quickly washes out his eyes and stares blankly at the floor.  
“Why didn’t I kill her? Why did I let him stop me like that?” he mumbles, “why did I listen?”  
“Isn’t it obvious?” Mr. Fuck sings, “you’re starting to get feelings for the boy.”  
“Don’t be stupid. I have no feelings,” Johnny retorts.  
“You’re a human, Nny. And like it or not, all humans have feelings,” Revered Meat argues.  
“I haven’t heard from any of you for days. Are you just surfacing now to torment me?” he snaps.  
“Of course,” Eff laughs, “after D-boy got his body back, we’ve all been focusing on trying to get ours. But we deserve a break every now and then.”  
“It’s adorable, really,” Meat giggles, “how easily you give in just from one look at that boy. He must be more formidable than I thought.”  
“Shut up. I feel nothing for him,” Johnny snarls.  
“You can’t lie to us, Nny,” Eff sings, “we know everything about you.”  
Johnny flinches. For a second it almost sound like Eff’s voice was outside his head. He quickly flings open the shower curtain and looks around, but nobody’s there. He’s all by himself.  
Johnny takes a deep breath and turns off the water. He grabs a towel and quickly dries off, being careful around his bite wounds. He walks over to the mirror and takes a look at himself. He doubts the wounds are going to disappear completely.  
“More scars to add to the collection, I guess,” he shrugs, “I should disinfectant them though. And bind them too, at least for today.”  
He grabs a first aid kit from under the sink and takes out a bottle of disinfectant and a roll of gauze. He dumps some of the disinfectant onto a cloth and dabs his wounds with it. He watches blankly as puss and fresh blood drip to the linoleum floor.  
“Suppose I should clean that up before Squee sees it,” he mutters then flinches. There he goes again, being all considerate of Squee. He doesn’t even notice it at first.  
He shakes his head and tightly wraps the gauze around his right shoulder, left arm, right hip, and left leg. Then he pulls on some fresh clothes over top.  
A fresh, warm scent wafts up his nostrils as he pulls on his shirt. This is one of the shirts he washed with Squee.  
He smiles a little but flinches again. He wipes the smile off his face and ruffles his hair, frustrated.  
“This is pissing me off,” he growls.  
He takes a deep breath and marches out of the bathroom. He walks into the living room and sighs disapprovingly at the couch.  
“You two are still here?” he grunts at Devi and Tenna. They’re watching TV with Squee.  
“Johnny,” Squee exclaims and jumps to his feet,” are-are you okay?”  
Johnny flinches and looks away. “I’m fine. Nothing to worry about.” He quickly walks into the kitchen before he can look at Squee again. He opens the fridge and groans. Completely empty. Nothing good to eat or drink. What a pain.  
“So what do you guys wanna do now?” Tenna asks.  
“Well I don’t know about the rest of you, but I gotta get to work,” Devi grunts as she stands up, “I’ve been missing for a few days. My boss is going to kill me.”  
“Alright, tell everyone I said hi,” Tenna chimes.  
Devi quickly grabs her arm and pulls her away from the boys. Johnny watches curiously.  
“Tenna, do not take them to the café, understand?” she whispers furiously.  
“Relax,” Tenna says aloud, “I would never do that.”  
“Uh huh,” Devi grunts, unconvinced. “Well, then I’m going.”  
“Have fun,” Tenna sings.  
Devi half waves as she leaves the house.  
Johnny cocks his head curiously. “Café?”  
“You heard that?” Tenna asks.  
“I have fantastic hearing,” he states, “I could hear a pin drop across the house, behind a closed door.”  
“That’s cool,” she comments excitedly.  
“Not really. It makes me kinda paranoid.”  
His ears suddenly pick up a light growling sound. He glances at Squee, who is rubbing his stomach.  
“Hungry?” he asks.  
“Yeah,” Squee nods.  
“I don’t have any food right now,” Johnny mutters.  
Tenna suddenly smiles a devilish grin, even by Johnny’s standards. “I know a place we can eat.”  
Johnny and Squee look at her curiously.  
A few minutes later they’re in Johnny’s car and Tenna is giving him directions to a café. Johnny’s only following along for two reasons: he’s hungry and he’s curious. Those are two feelings that should never mix together, especially in somebody like Johnny.  
“Alright, pull over here,” Tenna says.  
Johnny parks the car in front of a small, white building with large front windows and pink letters reading ‘Café Latte.’  
“Café Latte?” Johnny questions.  
“It’s a nice place with good food,” Tenna smirks, “and interesting employees.”  
They step out of the car and walk through the front door. Bells chime, alerting the greeter of new customers. She’s wearing a long, flowing white skirt with light pink stripes along the hem, a short, light pink apron, and a white top underneath with long, flowing sleeves. On her back ‘Café Latte’ is written in light pink letters. When she spins around, it’s like a flower blossoming in spring, her familiar purple pigtails twirling around her head.  
“Welcome-urgh!” Devi exclaims with surprise. Johnny and Squee blink at her, while Tenna giggles nefariously behind them.  
“Tenna! I told you not to bring them here!” she snaps angrily.  
“They were hungry and this was the first place that came to mind,” Tenna says innocently.  
“Yeah, right,” Devi grumbles.  
“Wow, Devi,” Johnny chuckles, “you know I was just calling you ‘Princess’ to piss you off. But in that outfit you really do look like a princess.”  
Devi glares daggers into his face. Johnny just smiles triumphantly. He’s not sure why, but this feels like a win.  
“Well, I like it,” Squee chimes, “I think she looks pretty.”  
“Thanks, Squee,” Devi sighs, defeated by his cute smile, “feel free to take a seat at any empty table.”  
The café is pretty full, most of the customers being families or teenage girls. But there are a couple of sleazy looking guys checking out the waitress’. Johnny’s asshole meter starts going off the second he sees them.  
There are about ten tables, six along the far and left wall and four in the middle of the room. Along the right wall is a doorway and pick-up slot most likely leading to the kitchen. Beside that is a short hallway labeled ‘bathrooms’ and an old fashioned jukebox with calm, soothing music playing through it. The tables are all decorated with light pink table cloths and fancy little salt and pepper shakers. Tenna leads them over to one with four fancy chairs and they take their seats.  
“Hello, I’m Samantha. I’ll be your waitress today,” a young woman smiles kindly. She has light brown hair tied into two little pigtails and matching eyes. Her uniform is different from Devi’s. Her skirt is short and fluffy, like a tutu. It’s white with light pink lining. She’s wearing a pink apron and a sleeveless white top underneath, her straps flaring out at her shoulders. Her uniform looks much more fun than Devi’s.  
“Hi, Sam,” Tenna smiles.  
“Hi, Tenna,” she chirps, “are these friends of yours?”  
“Yup. This is Johnny and Squee,” she replies.  
“Friends?” Johnny mumbles.  
“Squee? Aw, that’s so cute,” Samantha coos. Squee smiles at her and she practically melts. “Adorable! We don’t get cute boys like you here very often.”  
“Well, any friends of Devi and Tenna’s are friends of ours,” she smiles, “so let me introduce you to the rest of the crew.”  
“Friends,” Johnny mumbles.  
“Over there is Tamika,” she points to a young, dark skinned woman with long dreadlocks tied into a ponytail. She’s wearing a flowing miniskirt that looks like a shorter version of Devi’s skirt. Along with the usual pink apron, her white top is completely sleeveless. She’s also wearing flowing, light pink arm warmers. She smiles warmly as she serves a little girl and her family some cute looking appetizers.  
“That’s Piper.” A red-headed girl with pale skin. Her skirt is full length, nearly covering her feet, with light pink stripes along the folds. Her top has long sleeves covering her whole arm with light pink along the cuffs. She smiles shyly as she hands a couple of teenagers their orders.  
“That one there is Jade.” An older teenager with a black pixie cut and a pink stripe in her bangs. Her skirt is short and tight with light pink pointy stripes along the helm. A black leather belt is sitting crooked on her waist. Her top underneath her apron is like a small, tight tank top. She’s wearing a spiked leather bracelet on both of her wrists. She looks like she should be in all-girls punk rock band instead of a waitress, but she stills smiles brightly as she takes everyone’s orders.  
“There are two others in the kitchen,” Samantha says, “Payton, Nana, could you come here for a sec?”  
Two girls exit the kitchen. One of them looks about the same age as the waitress’. She has short, dark brown hair tied into a tiny ponytail with messy bangs sitting on her forehead. Her uniform looks the plainest with just a short, white skirt and a pink line across the hem and a white tank top underneath her pink apron.  
Beside her is a middle aged woman with tan skin and shoulder-length black hair. She’s wearing a long pink skirt with white stripes in the folds that flow along her legs like waves as she walks. Her apron is white while he long-sleeved top is pink. ‘Café Latte’ is written in white letters on her back.  
“Payton is our main chef. But she mostly works in the kitchen because of her temper,” Samantha explains, “and Nana is our manager.”  
“Who are they? New customers?” Payton asks.  
“Yup. They’re Johnny and Squee, friends of Tenna and Devi,” Samantha replies.  
Johnny flinches again at the word ‘friend.’ Squee notices but doesn’t say anything. But he’s not the only one who takes note.  
Nana marches right up to him. She bends down and grips his chin so they’re looking eye-to-eye.  
“Whuh-what?” Johnny grunts, too surprised to react any other way.  
“Your face,” she states, “I’m not sure I like it.”  
“Huh?”  
“Nana!” Samantha squeals.  
“Quiet, Samantha,” Nana snaps, “Johnny, was it? Let me tell you something. I consider all the girls here my daughters. I want to protect them and make sure they’re safe. So I have to ask: what is your relationship to Devi?”  
“We have no relationship,” he croaks as he struggles to remove her hand. That woman is an iron grip.  
“None?” she questions.  
“None.”  
“I can confirm that, Nana,” Devi says, “we have no relationship whatsoever.”  
“Then how do you know each other?” Nana asks.  
“It’s a long story. But right now we are merely two separate people with similar goals,” she replies, “we’re just helping each other out for the time being.”  
“I see,” Nana mumbles.  
“Wait, so after all this time, after everything that’s happened, you two don’t consider each other friends?” Tenna asks, bewildered.  
“Of course not,” Devi snaps.  
Johnny doesn’t say anything, but his facial expression does change once again at the word ‘friend’. Nana immediately notices. Her face softens and she lets him go.  
“Fine. I just want to make sure my girls are safe,” she grunts.  
“No need to worry about me, Miss,” Johnny groans as he rubs his chin, “I won’t do anything to your girls unless they provoke me.”  
Nana looks at him once more then nods, “well, good then.”  
She turns on her heel and marches back to the kitchen. “Come on, back to work, Payton.”  
Payton glances at Johnny and cocks her head. Johnny catches her staring at him. She quickly looks away and trots after Nana.  
“This place is odd,” Johnny comments, “how come I’ve never heard of it before?”  
“We just opened up like three months ago and we don’t have much advertisement,” Samantha replies as she rests some colourful menus on the table, “anyway, here are your menus. I’ll be back in a few minutes to take your order.”  
“Thanks, Sam,” Tenna chimes as the waitress skips away.  
They look through their menus silently. A lot of their food can be found in any old restaurant, but judging from some of the pictures, they seem to add in their own flare to make each dish their own. It’s really kind of impressive.  
“Hey, so how come everyone’s uniform looks different?” Squee asks curiously.  
“Nana designs our uniforms based on everyone’s personality and such,” Devi replies, “for example, I don’t like skirts and Piper doesn’t like showing so much skin. So Nana designed our uniforms to be long and comfortable.”  
“This Nana seems really considerate,” Johnny mutters.  
“She is. She’s like a mother and not just to the employees,” Tenna explains, “she also takes care of the regular customers.”  
Johnny grunts in reply as he blankly scans the menu. That woman is definitely overprotective. His chin still hurts. But he’d be lying if he said he hated her.  
His asshole meter starts reacting. He looks up just as one of the sleazy looking guys attempts to flip up Tamika’s skirt. She screams with surprise and spins away from him.  
Johnny’s first reaction is to stab the guy with a fork and maybe shove a pepper shaker through his eye socket. But Tamika responds before he can, and smacks the guy over the head with her serving tray. He gasps with surprise and falls to the floor.  
“Watch your hands, honey,” Tamika says innocently, “I have dangerous reactions.”  
“Tamika, don’t get too rough with the customers,” Nana calls through the pick-up slot.  
“Sorry, Nana,” Tamika sings and immediately gets back to work, like nothing even happened.  
Johnny and Squee watch the scene with their mouths hanging open. Tenna laughs at their reaction.  
“Nana is overprotective of the girls, but there’s really no reason to be,” she clarifies, “they’re all just as tough and dangerous as Devi, if not more so. Even the shy, little Piper can hold her own in a fight.”  
Squee smiles and giggles a little. Johnny almost smiles too, when he senses more asshole moves. He looks back at the sleazy guy and snarls. It seems like he hasn’t forgiven Tamika for smacking him and he wants some payback. He stands up from the table and starts rushing for the door.  
“Dine-and-dash!” Jade exclaims. The girls all turn in response, but none of them are close enough to stop him.  
He runs past Johnny’s table. He sticks out his leg just as Devi swings her serving tray. The guy trips over Johnny’s foot and slams face first into Devi’s tray. He hits the ground hard and groans.  
“They got him!” Samantha claps.  
“Teamwork!” Tenna cheers.  
Johnny and Devi look at each with surprise. Their eyes lock for a minute then Devi quickly looks away.  
Johnny smiles as he settles back in his seat. “I like this place.”  
“Me too,” Squee chirps.  
“I’m glad,” Tenna laughs.  
The café suddenly grows quiet as Payton stomps out of the kitchen. She picks the dine-and-dasher up by the back of his shirt with one hand. She’s a lot stronger than her skinny arms would suggest. Then she points him at Tamika.  
“Apologize to Tamika for being so insensitive,” she snaps.  
“I-I’m sorry,” he moans. Tamika smiles innocently, but there’s a layer of selfish satisfaction.  
Payton turns around and points him at Johnny. “Now apologize to Johnny for ruining his visit.”  
“I’m sorry,” he moans again. Johnny smirks. Luckily for this guy he’s in a good mood so he’ll let him live, for now.  
“Now pay up and get lost,” Payton demands. The guy pulls some money out of his pocket and hands it to her. She puts it in her apron pocket and shoves him to door. He stumbles out and the café livens up again.  
“Thank you for your help,” Payton says to Johnny. He just shrugs. She turns away and walks back to the kitchen.  
The rest of their time there is much calmer after that. The regulars don’t seem too fazed by the incident so it must happen a lot. Johnny likes that. It livens up the place.  
Samantha takes their orders and after about an hour or so, she delivers their food. As Johnny thought, each dish has bit of Café Latte flare to it. He just ordered a plate of French fries, but the fries are all arranged to look like flower petals with a little bowl of gravy in the middle. He really likes that. Though his demeanor would suggest otherwise, he really likes cute things. He almost doesn’t want to eat the fries cause he would ruin the floral design. But they’re too good to pass up.  
The crew eats in relative silence, making small talk every so often but for the most part just enjoying the ambiance of the café. It’s a nice place with a comforting atmosphere. But then something happens that ruins Johnny’s afternoon.  
Mr. Eff and Reverend Meat butt in.  
“You seem to be enjoying yourself,” Eff comments.  
Johnny chokes on his French fry a bit but otherwise ignores him.  
“You shouldn’t enjoy yourself too much, Nny,” Meat says, “you’ll grow complacent. And complacency leads to weakness.”  
“Aw, leave him alone, Meat,” Eff scolds, “he’s just having a good time with his friends.”  
Johnny’s breathe catches in his throat. He rubs his neck and pants a little as he tries to calm down.  
“Johnny? Are you okay?” Squee asks.  
“I’m fine,” he mutters.  
“Aw, poor Nny,” Eff sighs, “you’re so afraid of feeling your feelings you can’t even handle certain words.”  
“I had no idea emotions would be your weakness, Nny,” Meat laughs.  
“Quiet,” Johnny whispers.  
“I have to say, I’m disappointed,” Eff pouts, “you were always a tough challenge, Nny. But those people are making you weak. I think you should ditch them or capturing you just won’t be fun anymore.”  
“Be quiet,” he whispers again, a bit more harshly this time.  
“Now, now, Eff,” Meat scolds, “we should support Nny in making friends. Besides, it’s about time he became our slave already.”  
“I suppose you’re right, Meat,” Eff agrees, “all good times must come to an end eventually.”  
Johnny’s head suddenly starts swimming. He grips the table as his vision blurs and his body starts trembling like a leaf. He tries to drink some milk but it doesn’t calm him down. Especially when he has a hard time swallowing it.  
“Johnny, are you sure you’re okay?” Squee asks cautiously.  
“No, I’m not,” Johnny grunts. He digs around in his pocket and plants some money on the table; he’s not sure how much. Then he stands up. “I’m going home. You can stay here if you want. Actually, yeah, stay here. Then Devi can drive you back to the house… or wherever you want to go.”  
“Are you okay to drive? You seem sort of woozy,” Tenna comments.  
“I’m fine,” he mutters and walks away. Devi quickly avoids him as he lumbers by and stares after him through the glass door as he stumbles to his car.  
Johnny doesn’t stop moving until he collapses in the driver’s seat. Then he lets the nausea wash over him. He doesn’t get sick but his stomach jumps a couple thousand times. When the worst of it has passed, he starts the car and drives away.  
He has a hard time driving straight and staying in the right lane. But he forces his body to obey his commands and he somehow makes it home alive. He stumbles up the walk and through the front door. He doesn’t stop until he reaches his room, then collapses against the closed door.  
He breathes deeply, his eyes closed as he tries to calm down. He doesn’t feel good at all. He feels incredibly sick. And he thinks he knows the cause.  
He opens his eyes and looks at his right wall. Mr. Fuck is gone. All that’s left is a knife sticking in the wall, just like Psycho Doughboy.  
“Joined your brother in life, huh?” Johnny mumbles as he removes the knife, “is that why I feel like this? Are you stealing more of my imagination? Is there even any left at this point?”  
He looks at his mantle. Reverend Meat is still there, standing next to the picture of Nailbunny.  
“You’re still here,” Nny observes as he picks him up, “but I bet you’re coming next, right? And then Sickness?”  
“Well, I’ll be ready when you are,” he grunts. He tucks Meat under his arm and stumbles out of his room.  
He collapses onto his couch, burying his face into his arm. Reverend Meat hangs loosely out of his hand, over the edge of the couch. Johnny’s body welcomes the break and he falls asleep almost immediately.


	14. Chapter 14

Tenna and Samantha talk happily with Squee. The other waitresses do the same as they walk by. They ask him questions and try to make him feel wanted. He enjoys it and he’s feeling happy that everyone is trying to make him feel better, but in the back of his mind he still feels depressed. Something is wrong with Johnny and he can’t help but worry.  
Devi stands next to pick-up window and watches Squee as she fumes quietly. Or maybe not so quietly.  
“I can’t believe Johnny just left him,” she snarls, “isn’t he supposed to be taking care of him? And he still acts like a selfish bastard.”  
“Calm down, Devi,” Nana scolds, “don’t be too hard on Johnny.”  
“Nana, you just don’t understand,” Devi snaps, “you just don’t know Johnny like I do.”  
“Yes, that’s true,” she nods, “but maybe it’s because of your previous impression of him that you haven’t noticed the side of him that I’ve noticed.”  
“What are you talking about?” Devi asks.  
“I don’t know what happened to you two in the past. And frankly I don’t wanna know,” Nana explains, “but I’m sure it was something bad so you probably see Johnny as a bad guy. And maybe he is. But I think he knows that.”  
“He knows he’s a bad guy? So what?” Devi scoffs.  
“Maybe he punishes himself for it. Maybe he’s scared that he’ll drive people away. Maybe he’s scared he’ll hurt them,” she suggests, “all I know for sure is that he is incredibly lonely.”  
“How do you know?”  
“I’ve always been pretty good at reading people. And when I was interrogating Johnny, I saw a look in his eyes. He looked so empty and sad,” she clarifies.  
“She’s right,” Payton agrees, “I looked just like before I started working here and met all of you.”  
“Now, Devi, I’m not saying you shouldn’t be mad at Johnny for leaving Squee,” Nana concludes, “I’m just saying don’t be too hard on him. He’s never had friends before so he’s probably really scared.”  
“What’s so scary about having friends?” Devi asks.  
“You wouldn’t understand, Devi,” Payton sighs, “when you’re friends with someone, you bear your feelings to that person. There are some people in this world who are terrified of their feelings and even more scared of showing them to people. I think Johnny is one of those people.”  
“Johnny’s scared of his feelings?” Devi questions, “actually that does make sense. But that doesn’t change the fact he tried to ki- I mean… that he’s a bad person.”  
Wait. Why the fuck am I trying to protect that murderer?  
“Like I said, you don’t have to like him. Just be careful around him,” Nana says, “your actions may leave a deeper scar than you think.”  
Devi slowly twirls her pigtail and stares at the floor, deep in thought. Despite herself she’s feeling rather… sort of… guilty…  
She quickly shakes her head. Why the fuck should I feel bad for that dick? The only reason Nana and Payton are supporting him is because they don’t know him.  
Although, they did say the same thing as Squee, about him being lonely… but that doesn’t prove anything! Squee’s just a little kid.  
She looks up at Squee. He’s fiddling with Shmee’s ears. Devi sighs and walks into the kitchen.  
“Sorry, Nana. I’m going to need a couple days off,” she says.  
“Fine. But you’re going to have to work overtime next week,” Nana warns. Devi nods and trots into the locker room. She quickly changes into her street clothes and walks over to Squee’s table. She smiles and pats his head.  
“Come on, I’ll take you back to Johnny’s,” she says.  
“Really?” Squee questions, “but I-I’m not even sure he wants me there.”  
“Well too bad for him. Because we’re going anyway,” she snaps and leads him to the door, “Tenna, you coming?”  
“Yup,” Tenna chimes and follows them.  
They all climb into Devi’s car and drive to Johnny’s place. They’re rather quiet on the way; Squee is wondering if Johnny is okay, Devi is trying to keep herself from thinking about her conversation with Nana and Payton, and Tenna’s mind is pretty much blank.  
She pulls over in front of Johnny’s house and they trot up the walk.  
“Shouldn’t we knock?” Tenna asks.  
Before anyone even has a chance to respond, Devi pushes the door open. “Coming in!” she announces.  
“Oh,” she exclaims quietly. Johnny is fast asleep on the couch, Reverend Meat hanging loosely from his hand.  
“He’s sleeping,” Squee breathes, “should we come back?”  
“No. Come on,” Devi demands and they walk in. She cautiously examines Johnny as they walk by. He looks so innocent when he’s asleep, so calm and at peace. A complete contrast to how he normally looks.  
He suddenly twitches and rolls over onto his back. Reverend Meat tumbles to the floor. Johnny moans and rubs his head with his hand. He coughs and rolls back over onto his side, his arms wrapped around his stomach. His face is contorted with pain and fear.  
“He’s having a nightmare,” Squee states.  
Johnny gasps and sits up. He’s suddenly wide awake. He pants for a few seconds before curling in on himself, wrapping one arm around his stomach and pressing his other hand against his head.  
“Oh, fuck me,” he groans.  
He sighs and looks over at the others. “Where’d you guys come from?”  
“We just got here,” Tenna shrugs.  
“Are you okay?” Squee asks.  
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Johnny nods and stretches out. He suddenly glances at his right hand and looks around frantically. “Wait, where did he…?” He sighs with relief when he sees Reverend Meat on the floor and quickly picks him up.  
He stands up and rubs his stomach. “Ugh, I feel sick.”  
“What’s wrong? Did the food not agree with you?” Tenna asks.  
“No, no. Nothing like that,” Johnny replies, “it’s all his fault.” He lifts Reverend Meat up so they’re eye-to-eye. “Isn’t it? You’re causing me all kinds of problems, aren’t you? You’re probably going to kill me before you even get your life back.”  
He yawns and opens his fridge. He grabs a bottle of cherry Fiz-Wiz and drinks it slowly as he walks back to the living room.  
“Devi, you created Sickness, right?” Johnny asks.  
“Yes,” she replies as she reaches into her bag and pulls out two bolt-like objects, “these are her eyes. When I destroyed her I kept them with me.”  
“Hold on tight to those,” Johnny orders, “the Doughboys have their bodies back which means these two are next. And when he comes back,” he pats Meat’s head, “I’ll be ready for him.”  
“What should we do in the meantime?” Tenna asks.  
“Wait,” Johnny shrugs, “we don’t have the element of surprise anymore so they’ll probably come for us. Especially after Reverend Meat and Sickness get their bodies back. So just be ready for when that happens.”  
“Then may I make a suggestion?” she asks. Everyone looks at her curiously. “Movies!”  
“Tenna,” Devi groans.  
“Come on. I haven’t had a moment to goof-off since this happened,” she whines, “all work and no play makes me a dull Tenna. It’ll be fun. They’re having gore-fest at the Camera.”  
“No, thanks,” Devi sighs.  
“What about you, Johnny? I bet you’re a gore fan,” Tenna coos.  
“All those movies are nothing but amateurs,” Johnny scoffs, “I’ve done everything in all of those films and more. I know all weaknesses of a human body, probably better than a medical professional. I can make a grown man cry with just a poke of my knife and I don’t even have to puncture his skin. The creators of those movies would be completely catatonic if they witnessed the things that I can do.”  
Everyone stares at him, speechless.  
“Besides I prefer comedies to horror movies,” he shrugs.  
“Then what are we supposed to do?” Tenna asks.  
“Go home?” Johnny suggests.  
Both of the girls glare at him.  
“Alright, fine. I’m a really bad pack rat. The closet in my kitchen is full of crap,” Johnny explains, “feel free to rummage through that. Maybe you’ll find something to play with.”  
Tenna runs off, excited.  
“Um… none of came off… people, right?” Devi asks nervously.  
“No. Anything concerning my… um... hobby is in my lower floors,” Johnny replies.  
“Good,” she sighs.  
“Cool,” Tenna sings, “a Z-Hexahedron, an Amusement Station. And you’ve got like a million games.”  
“Yeah. A few years back I was really into video games and anime,” Johnny admits, “they were entertaining and passed the time.”  
“Can I hook these up?” Tenna asks.  
“Knock yourself out,” Johnny shrugs.  
Tenna squeals happily as she runs over to the TV and begins plugging in the gaming platforms.  
“A lot of people at Scool would talk about these things,” Squee says, “my parents refused to buy me one though. They said they were too expensive and I wasn’t worth it.”  
“Video games are said to rot the minds of those who play,” Johnny points out, “I’m surprised your parents weren’t into that. Especially since they left you at a facility specifically made to rot people’s minds.”  
“Scool?” Squee questions.  
“No, the insane asylum.”  
“Oh, yeah.”  
“Squee, you’ve never played a video game before?” Devi asks. Squee shakes his head. “That’s so sad. A person hasn’t lived until they’ve devoted at least hours of their life to a meaningless video game.”  
“Devi is right,” Tenna declares, “come on, Squee. We’ll play a racing game together. Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you.”  
“Okay,” Squee smiles. They sit together on the floor as Tenna turns the Amusement Station on.  
Tenna explains the rules of the game. Squee loses the first round but he catches on quick, and mercilessly beats Tenna at every other level.  
“Tenna, you’re getting your ass kicked by a kid who can’t even drive yet,” Devi laughs.  
“He was just lucky,” Tenna snarls.  
“Yeah, for the last twenty rounds,” Johnny smirks.  
“I wanna try,” Devi orders, “I’ll totally beat him.”  
Tenna passes her the controller and sits on the couch next to Johnny. He smiles a little as he watches Squee. He looks really happy, like he’s having a lot of fun. That makes Johnny feel really good.  
Squee and Devi pick their avatars and the game begins loading. Despite everything that’s happened, for the next few hours this game is the only thing that matters to this small, unstable group of unlikely friends.


	15. Chapter 15

Tenna laughs victoriously as her character smashes Johnny’s character into the ground for the umpteenth time. Johnny’s expression doesn’t reveal it, however, as he stares at his TV completely stoned face.  
“I am totally owning you,” Tenna exclaims, “you’re getting your ass kicked, cocksucker. Is that what the ‘C’ stands for in your name? Cocksucker? Johnny Cocksucker? Ha! I crack myself up!”  
Her obnoxious laughter is cut short when her character is killed by Johnny’s secret move.  
“You oughta work more on your gameplay than on your jeers,” Nny smirks, “because I just whupped your ass!”  
“No way. How did you do that?” Tenna asks, “you were like a ninja.”  
“It’s an obvious rule of fighting,” he shrugs, “you lull your opponent into a false sense of security, then hit ‘em hard. It’s effective and satisfying.”  
“I never fought like that. I always get right up in my opponent’s face,” Tenna states.  
“You’ve fought a lot, have you?” Johnny asks.  
“I used to. Not as much now,” she replies and looks around, “where’s Devi and Squee?”  
Johnny turns to the couch and notices the two people that were sitting there a few minutes ago are no longer there.  
“They left? I didn’t even notice,” Johnny grunts.  
“I wonder why,” Tenna muses.  
“They probably got sick of all your swearing and jeers,” he comments.  
“Jeers are a part of ‘Lethal Combat’,” Tenna scolds.  
“Fine, fine,” Johnny groans as he stands up. He stretches his stiff legs and picks up Reverend Meat. “But they still didn’t help you win.”  
“How about a rematch?” she suggests.  
“No, thank you. I need something to drink,” he says as he strides over to the kitchen. He opens his fridge and moans disapprovingly. “My fridge is depressingly empty.”  
“Why don’t you go shopping?” Tenna asks.  
“Because I hate it,” he grunts in reply and slams the refrigerator door closed.  
“Why do you hate so many things?”  
“Why do you ask so many questions?”  
“Sorry,” she winces, “I guess I was getting a little out of control.”  
“It’s fine,” he sighs and flops onto the couch.  
“Coming in!” Devi announces as she flings the door open and marches in, Squee right behind her. Both of them are carrying grocery bags.  
“Where did you guys go?” Tenna asks.  
“To the store,” Devi replies, “there’s no food in this house so we bought some.”  
“Why?” Johnny snorts.  
“How can you take care of a kid with no food?” Devi snaps.  
That shuts Johnny up for multiple reasons.  
“Well, at least let me pay you back,” he sighs.  
“Don’t worry about it. I don’t even know how much it all was,” she says as they drop the bags in the kitchen and start unpacking.  
“Will two hundred dollars be enough?” he asks as he pulls a bunch of cash out of his jeans pocket.  
“Two hundred? Jeezus, where do you get all of your money?” Devi scoffs.  
“So what did you buy?” Johnny asks, completely ignoring the question.  
“A bunch of random stuff,” Squee replies, “nothing that takes a lot of cooking. I wasn’t sure if you cooked or not.”  
“Not really,” Johnny shrugs, “you didn’t happen to buy Fiz-Wiz, did you?”  
“Actually, we did,” Squee nods as he takes out a four pack of Fiz-Wiz.  
“Oh, awesome. Thank you,” Johnny smiles as he opens a bottle and takes a big swig.  
Squee smiles bashfully, feeling really happy and a bit embarrassed that Johnny just thanked him.  
“So did anything happen while we were gone?” Devi asks.  
“Not really,” Johnny shrugs, “I kicked Tenna’s ass at ‘Lethal Combat’ while she was calling me a cocksucker.”  
“He got lucky,” Tenna shouts.  
“Please. You think I have luck on my side?” Johnny snorts as he sits on the couch, “I make my own luck.”  
“How do you go about that?” Devi asks.  
“By living through all the bad luck,” he replies.  
Tenna changes the TV channel back to cable and sits on the couch next to Johnny. He grabs the remote and begins flipped through the channels before stopping on a random cartoon.  
“Why do you like cartoons?” Tenna asks.  
“I like comedies and things that aren’t real,” he replies, “cartoons are often both of those things.”  
“I never watched much cartoons,” Squee says, “Father thought they were a waste of his precious money.”  
“Jeez, you really did have a deprived childhood,” Tenna comments.  
“I’m gonna cook everyone dinner,” Devi declares, “Johnny, mind if I borrow your stove?”  
“Knock yourself out,” Johnny grunts.  
“What are you making?” Tenna asks.  
“I’m just going to boil some noodles,” Devi replies, “everyone cool with that?”  
“Yeah. I love noodles,” Nny chimes.  
Squee sits on the couch and stares at him, his mouth hanging open. Johnny glances at him and cocks his head. “What?”  
“Nothing,” Squee mutters and quickly looks away. He smiles a little bit as he looks at Nny from the corner of his eye.  
“What’s with you?” Shmee asks.  
“I… kinda like his smile,” he whispers so the others can’t hear him.  
Shmee arches a brow but doesn’t say anything.  
The group watches cartoons quietly while Devi boils everyone’s dinner. When she’s finished, she loads up four bowls and passes them to everyone. Then they all sit together on the couch and eat in silence.  
Johnny can barely contain his excitement as he picks up a fork-full of noodles. He feels something close to elation when he slurps them up and smiles brightly.  
“You really like noodles,” Devi comments.  
“I really do,” Nny nods, “it’s one of the few things I still like in this world.”  
“You should try the noodles at Eat or Die,” Tenna suggests, “they’re really good.”  
They spend nearly three hours eating noodles, watching cartoons, and talking about random stuff. Johnny is surprised at how much he enjoys the company. He’s never experience something like this. It’s kind of… nice.  
That thought really scares him.  
“It’s getting pretty dark outside,” Tenna comments after the sun has long set over the horizon.  
“Yeah. We should probably head home,” Devi sighs. They quickly clean up their dishes and get ready to leave.   
“We’ll see you guys tomorrow,” Tenna smiles.  
“Right,” Johnny grunts.  
“I hope you sleep well,” Squee smiles.  
The girls wave goodbye and exit the house.  
Johnny sighs, caught somewhere between relief and longing. He’s glad that they left because now he’ll stop feeling these stupid, confusing feelings; but at the same time he enjoyed spending time with them. He hates this.  
“I’m gonna go shower then probably go to bed,” Squee says.  
“Alright,” Johnny mutters.  
Squee stands up and walks to the bathroom. Johnny stares after him for a few seconds and sighs.  
“You seem to be enjoying yourself.”  
Johnny perks up. That was Psycho Doughboy. But the voice was in his head, so he shouldn’t get too excited.  
He sits back and watches the TV.  
“It’s odd, isn’t it,” D-boy comments, “you’ve never had friends before. I must say I’m kind of happy to see you smiling for once. But you must know it won’t last, right?”  
“Don’t be depressing, D-boy,” Mr. Fuck scolds, “it’s nice that even in these times of struggle friendship can still blossom. It makes things more interesting.”  
“Shut up, Eff,” D-boy snaps, “friendship will just make things harder when we inevitably win and absorb the imagination of Nny’s so-called friends.”  
“The harder the game, the more interesting it is to play,” Eff smirks.  
“I don’t get you, Eff. Don’t you want their imagination?” D-boy asks.  
“Of course I do,” he replies, “but it’s no fun if they don’t fight back. That’s really what I’m looking for.”  
“For fuck sakes, shut up!” Johnny barks.  
“Oh, my. Somebody’s awfully grumpy,” Eff laughs.  
“Yeah. Well, I’d be grumpy too if I had a pair of voices arguing in my head,” D-boy shrugs.  
“That’s another thing. Quit with the ‘in my head’ shit!” Johnny snaps, “come out here and face me head on!”  
“Sorry, Nny,” Eff sighs, “we’re not allowed to show ourselves until the rest of the minions are revived.”  
“How long will that take?” he asks as he examines Revered Meat.  
“It’ll happen soon enough,” D-boy says reassuringly.  
“Fine, bring it on,” Johnny growls, “I’ll be ready for you.”  
“Whatever you say, Nny,” the Doughboys giggle before slipping out of Johnny’s mind.  
Johnny sighs and turns off the TV. The living room is suddenly very dark, the only light streaming in from the streetlamps through the boarded up windows. He lies down on his couch, Reverend Meat clutched to his chest.  
He can hear the shower running down the hall. It’s weird since he’s not used to hearing it when he’s not using it.  
And yet it somehow makes him feel safe. Like he’s not alone.  
“Ridiculous,” he grunts. He closes his eyes and passes out rather uncomfortably on his couch.

Squee’s eyes flicker open. He sits up, licking his dry lips.  
“Thirsty,” he mumbles and stands up. He picks up Shmee by his hand and drags himself out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen.  
It’s really dark, only a fraction of the living room is being illuminated by the outdoor streetlamps. Squee can barely make out Johnny’s sleeping frame on the couch.  
He starts to go over to the kitchen when grunts and groans start sounding from behind him. He turns around and sees Johnny’s silhouette writhing in the shadows.  
Squee turns around and holds Shmee to his chest. “He’s having a nightmare,” he mutters.  
“Evidently,” Shmee nods, “he seems to have them a lot.”  
Squee watches Johnny sadly. He groans and mumbles quietly as he contends against whatever is going on in his head.  
Squee nods affirmatively and jogs over to his bedroom. Hanging over the bed is the dream catcher Johnny bought him the first day he stayed here. He takes it off the wall and jogs back over to the living room. Ever so quietly he places the dream catcher on the back of the couch so it hangs over Johnny’s head.  
He steps back and examines his work. He can’t really prove that dream catchers work, but the entire time he’s been sleeping at Johnny’s he hasn’t had one nightmare. And that’s pretty incredible.  
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Shmee asks, “what about your dreams?”  
“It’ll be okay,” Squee whispers as he walks back to the bedroom, “after all I have you. But Johnny doesn’t have anybody.”  
Shmee grunts in reply.  
Squee lies down on the bed and snuggles into Shmee, pulling the blankets up to his chin. Truth be told, he’s a little worried about the prospect of nightmares. Especially with the Nightmare stalking around. But Johnny has suffered a lot worse than he has. He deserves a little more help.

Johnny moans as his eyes ease open. He rubs his head and sits up. That’s when he notices the morning sun streaming through his windows.  
“Did I actually…sleep last night?” he asks.  
He remembers having a nightmare like usual, but for some reason it seems like it abruptly stopped. He looks around and notices something hanging over the back of his couch.  
It’s the dream catcher. The one he bought for Squee. Why is it here?  
“Good morning,” Squee smiles as he walks into the living room.  
“Morning,” Johnny mutters.  
“Did you sleep well?” he asks.  
“Actually, yeah,” he nods, “um… Squee, did you put this here?”  
“Yeah,” Squee replies, “you were having a nightmare last night. I thought this would help.”  
“But it’s yours, isn’t it?” Johnny asks.  
“You bought it,” Squee shrugs, “and you need it more than I do.” He looks at him and smiles. “I’m fine.”  
Johnny sighs and stares down at the dream catcher. His chest feels weird. Like something is stirring inside of it.  
Then it hits him.  
“Where’s Reverend Meat?” he asks.  
He looks around frantically for a second before finding him on the floor.  
“There you are,” he grunts and picks him up, “stop trying to get away from me. It ain’t gonna happen.”  
He holds Reverend Meat to his chest and marches into the kitchen. He grabs a bottle of Fiz-Wiz and chugs nearly half of it in one gulp.  
“You really like Fiz-Wiz,” Squee observes.  
“I like Brain Freezys more but I can’t keep those in my house,” Johnny shrugs.  
As they sit on the couch, the front door swings open.  
“Coming in,” Devi announces as the girls march in.  
“Wow, you start your interloping early,” Johnny comments.  
“Early to bed and early to rise,” Tenna chimes.  
“Except we didn’t get to bed until four in the morning last night,” Devi points out.  
“Why’s that?” Squee asks.  
“There was an alien movie marathon on TV,” Tenna replies.  
“I’m going to make everyone breakfast,” Devi announces and marches into the kitchen.  
“Don’t you have work?” Johnny asks.  
“I’m taking a couple days off until this mess is sorted out,” Devi clarifies.  
“What are you making, Devi?” Tenna asks.  
“I’m gonna make bacon and eggs,” she replies, “or I’m gonna try anyway. I’m not very good at cooking bacon.”  
“I can cook bacon,” Johnny states, “and I’m pretty good at it. Er, at least I think I am. I never had a second opinion.”  
“I’d like to give you a second opinion,” Squee smiles.  
Johnny looks at him and shrugs, “alright.”  
“Cool,” Devi smiles and tosses him a pack of raw bacon.  
He opens a cupboard and pulls out a frying pan. He turns on his stove and rests the pan on the heater. Then he reaches into his jacket and pulls out his main knife, the one with the not-so-smiling smiley face on the handle. He slices open the package and lays five slices of bacon on the pan.  
“Do you have a spatula?” Devi asks.  
“Um… yeah, but not a particularly clean one,” he replies.  
“So, what, you’re going to use your knife to cook?”  
“I do my best work with a knife,” he states.  
“Wonderful,” she groans.  
“What? It’s a helluva lot cleaner than that spatula, I guarantee you,” he retorts.  
He stabs his knife into the edge of a bacon strip and picks it up, flipping it with a flick of his wrist. He repeats this process for the other strips as well.  
The bacon spits and lands on his cheek. Other than his eye flinching involuntarily, he doesn’t react to it.  
“Doesn’t that hurt?” Devi asks.  
“Doesn’t what hurt?” he asks, completely genuine.  
Devi closes her mouth, utterly speechless.  
Once the bacon is finished, he rests them on a plate and dumps the grease in a glass.  
“There’s another pan in the cupboard,” Johnny says, “you can use that for the eggs.”  
“Okay,” Devi nods and grabs the other pan.  
“How does everyone like their eggs?” she asks.  
“Scrambled, please,” Squee smiles.  
“Fried!” Tenna chimes.  
“Johnny?” Devi questions.  
“Hm?” he mumbles, rubbing his temple. “Oh, uh, fried, I guess.”  
“Are you okay?” Squee asks.  
“Yeah. Just a little headache,” he replies.  
“I’ll be right back,” he murmurs and walks down the hall to the bathroom. He runs the water in the sink until its ice cold and splashes it on his face.  
He sighs and looks into the mirror. In the right, near the back of the bathroom, he sees Reverend Meat standing on the floor.  
Wait. Isn’t he tucked under my arm?  
Meat grins slyly.  
Johnny spins around, but he doesn’t see anything standing behind him. He holds Reverend Meat up to his face and snarls.  
“Quit playing with me!” he barks, “why don’t you just steal all of my imagination right now? Just finish me off! And then I’ll finish you off!”  
“You wish,” Meat giggles.  
Johnny feels his brain throb. Reverend Meat tumbles from his hands and he grips his head. He pants for breath and falls to his knees.  
“It hurts, doesn’t it?” Eff asks, “having the last of your imagination stolen.”  
Johnny can’t say anything. He just tugs on his hair as the pain gets worse and worse. It feels like his entire skull is imploding.  
“Although to be fair, we’re making this extract a little more painful for you,” D-boy laughs, “consider it payback for all of those empty threats.”  
Johnny rests on his stomach and tries to reach for Reverend Meat. The statue smirks at him and slaps his hand away.  
“You can’t beat us, Nny,” Meat shrugs, “you’re useless.”  
He smiles, almost apologetically, but there’s malice behind it. Then he disappears into black smoke.  
Johnny lies there, completely immobile for a few minutes. Then he stands up on shaking feet. He runs his fingers through his hair and leaves the bathroom.  
“Johnny, are you okay?” Squee asks.  
“Your breakfast is ready,” Devi says.  
“I don’t want it!” Johnny snaps. He walks through the door to his lower floors and slams it hard behind him.  
He jumps off the landing onto the bottom floor, then keeps walking straight, going lower and lower into the ground.  
He finally stops, in the middle of an empty room. He lets the pain, anger, and anguish wash over him. Tears of multiple origins stream down his face. He grips his hair, points his face to the sky, and screams an endless scream of agony, fury, and loneliness.


	16. Chapter 16

Johnny lies on the floor of his room, staring emotionless at the ceiling. His right hand casually rolls around his knife. He doesn’t know how long he’s been lying here. After his little breakdown in the basement he kind of just drifted up here. He barely even remembers the trip to the surface.  
There’s a small knock on his door.  
“Johnny, are you okay?” Devi asks cautiously.  
It takes him a few minutes to answer. “Fine.”  
“We’re coming in,” she warns and starts to turn the knob.  
Johnny slams his foot against the door, holding it shut. “Don’t.”  
“Listen, Johnny,” Tenna speaks up, “we’ve been talking and we think it’s about time we took control of the situation.”  
“We’re going to see Satan and ask if he knows where the Nightmare might be hiding or something,” Devi adds, “you should come.”  
“What help would I be?” Johnny grunts.  
“What do you mean?” Squee asks.  
Johnny sits up and leans against the door. “I’m nothing more than a hindrance. You don’t need me. If anything I’d only make things worse for you. I can’t do anything right.”  
He grips his forehead, digging his fingers into his hair. “He was right in front of me. He was right there and I couldn’t do a fucking thing!”  
“But, Johnny, we do need your help,” Squee mutters.  
“Don’t try to flatter me, Squee,” Johnny scoffs then sighs, “you guys go. Go beat the Nightmare, gain your freedom. You can do it. You’re all much stronger than me.”  
“But, Johnny-,” Squee whimpers.  
“Leave!” he barks.  
Devi growls and squeezes Squee’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.”  
Squee reluctantly follows the girls down the hall. “I never thought Johnny was a hindrance,” he mumbles.  
Johnny’s ears twitch as they pick up the words. He stares at the floor with surprise and moans painfully. “How the fuck am I supposed to react to that?”  
His hand lashes out and grabs his knife. He rolls up the sleeve on his left arm. He brings the blade to his wrist and slices through his skin.  
He stares indifferently at his new injury and watches the blood drip to the floor.  
“Why don’t I feel anything?” he asks, “why is there no pain? If-if I don’t feel pain, then what am I supposed to feel?”  
He stabs the knife into his arm, slices it across his forearm, his elbow. But no matter how hard he cuts, he feels no pain. Nothing.  
The bloodied knife falls from his hand into the growing puddle of blood. He glares at the floor, panting relentlessly.  
“Why is there no pain?” he barks, “if I can’t feel pain, what the fuck am I supposed to feel?”  
He slams his fists onto the floor, cracking the linoleum. He rests his forehead on the ground and gasps for air as a sob forms in his throat.  
“Aw, poor Nny.”  
Johnny’s head perks up and he looks at his vanity table. Sitting on the reflection of the counter are Mr. Fuck, Psycho Doughboy, and Reverend Meat.  
He growls and looks away. “What do you want?”  
“We were just checking on you,” Eff shrugs.  
“What’s the point of being in my mirror?” Johnny grunts, “I can’t do anything to you. It’s not like you’re in any sort of danger if you see me in person.”  
“Aw, Nny. I don’t like it when you’re depressed,” Meat sighs.  
“I do,” D-boy laughs, “it’s much more interesting.”  
“You’re wrong, D-boy,” Eff argues, “it is much more fun when Nny is happy.”  
“I’m never happy,” Johnny grunts as he lies down on the floor.  
“Right. I meant when you’re close to happy,” he clarifies.  
“But don’t you feel bad for him?” Meat asks, “I mean he can’t feel anything anymore. Not even pain. What’s the point in living if he can’t feel anything?”  
“Exactly! That’s why he should join us,” Eff exclaims.  
“Right. What do you say, Nny?” D-boy asks, “one last time: join the Nightmare.”  
Johnny stares at them then looks away.  
“Come on, Nny,” Eff insists, “do you remember how you felt when you were working for the Daydream, to keep the Nightmare trapped? Nothing could touch you. You could kill in the middle of a crowded street and never get caught.”  
“If you join the Nightmare, you could have that multiplied by a hundred,” D-boy adds, “you will be invisible to everything you want to be invisible to. You can do anything you want with absolutely no consequence. What do you think?”  
Johnny sighs and glances at them. “Why do you want me so bad? You already stole all of my imagination to revive yourselves.”  
“Ah, but that’s the thing. We didn’t,” Meat says.  
“You see, Nny, you are a special breed,” Eff explains, “with most people, when their imagination is stolen it’s gone forever. They become a useless husk. But you, Nny, you are different.”  
“Nny, you have an endless well of imagination inside of you,” D-boy continues, “we can completely empty it, but more will just come back. That’s why the Nightmare wants you.”  
“I’m like an endless snack,” Johnny clarifies.  
“Exactly,” the Doughboys nod.   
“It’s not just you though,” Meat adds, “Squee is the same. That’s why the Daydream is protecting him.”  
“But you don’t have to worry about that,” Eff says quickly, “if you join the Nightmare, you won’t have to worry about anything. You will be protected and taken care of. And all we ask in return is to feed off your bottomless imagination.”  
“Like parasites,” Johnny comments.  
“Eh, tomato tom-ah-to,” Eff shrugs.  
He sighs and sits up. “I’m tired. Tired of people, tired of feelings, tired of everything. And death won’t help. It didn’t before. So maybe… maybe I should just join you.”  
“Exactly! If you join us, you don’t have to worry about any of those troublesome things,” Meat exclaims happily.  
“All you have to do is say yes,” the Doughboys purr.  
Johnny stares at them. He looks at the floor and sighs. He can feel a dark presence spreading throughout the room, slowly entangling him. His mouth hangs open as that one word starts to slip through his lips.  
“No, Nny! Don’t do it!”  
Johnny jumps and looks back at his vanity, the darkness suddenly disappearing. “Nailbunny?”  
He grabs the picture of the severed bunny head and holds it up to his face.  
“Don’t listen to them, Nny!” Nailbunny’s voice seems to ring throughout the whole room. “Don’t let them tempt you! You don’t need them! You know it.”  
“What’s the point of fighting anymore?” Johnny growls, “I’m weak. They’ll get me eventually. There is no point in fighting.”  
“What about Devi and Tenna and Squee?” Nailbunny asks.  
Johnny gasps and stares at the floor with surprise. Then he scoffs, “what about them?”  
“You liked them. And they liked you,” Nailbunny replies.  
“So what? It doesn’t mean they need me,” Johnny grunts.  
“Johnny C. you know that is not true!” Nailbunny barks. Johnny is so surprised that he drops the picture.  
“You are the only one who can fight the Nightmare!” he snaps, “the only one who can defeat them! So stop being such a selfish, depressed asshole and help your friends!”  
Johnny stares at the bunny head with surprise. “You’ve never yelled at me like that before. Or is it just my own voice?”  
“Either way, you’re right,” he sighs, “I have been an asshole.”  
He stands up and stretches his arms to the ceiling. He rolls his sleeves down over his arms and grabs his jacket. The many knives hidden inside clang together as he pulls it on.  
“Nny? Nny, what are you doing?” Eff asks frantically.  
“Leaving, obviously,” Johnny grunts.  
“This is your last chance!” D-boy barks, “if you leave now, you will forever be an enemy of the Nightmare.”  
Johnny smirks at them as he grabs the doorknob. “When have I ever been anything else?”  
And with that, he leaves. He can feel the darkness riling angrily. But instead of freaking him out, it makes him feel accomplished and maybe just a bit confident.  
He smirks. “This’ll be interesting.”


	17. Chapter 17

Devi drives the car down the road, her white knuckles gripping the steering wheel angrily. Tenna stares at the passenger side window, watching the scenery zoom by. Squee sits lonely in the backseat, staring down at Shmee.  
“It’s better this way,” Shmee says reassuringly, “Johnny was a danger to you all. Even he knew it.”  
Squee doesn’t respond. Just sighs and looks out the window.  
“We don’t need him,” Devi barks suddenly. “He even said so himself. We can beat the Nightmare by ourselves.”  
“Do you really think so,” Tenna says, not quite asking but not quite stating either. Devi blinks, her grip on the steering wheel lessening slightly. But she quickly regains her composure and remains angry.  
“Squee, Pepito’s house is this way, right?” she asks.  
“What?” Squee questions quietly. “Oh, uh, yeah. I think so.”  
Tenna turns around to look at him. He looks tired. Not tired like he needs sleep. Just tired of everything. And the more she looks at him, the more she realizes that that’s not all.  
He’s also sad and lonely.  
Tenna clenches her fists and turns away. She wants to touch him, to comfort him. But she doesn’t feel she has a right to, since it won’t help at all.  
Devi suddenly slams her foot on the brakes, causing Squee and Tenna to lurch forward suddenly.  
“What the hell, Devi?” Tenna groans as she rubs her neck.  
“I’m sorry,” Devi squeaks, “someone suddenly ran across the road. They should fucking watch where they’re going.”  
Squee looks out his window and notices something moving around in the shadows of a nearby building.  
“Oh, no,” Shmee mutters.  
“Devi. Drive,” Squee orders.  
“What?” she questions.  
“Drive. Go now!” he demands, harsher this time.  
Devi starts driving down the road, but stops abruptly when something clatters on the roof of the car. Almost like something jumped on it.  
“Shit,” Tenna whispers plainly. Squee whimpers as people start surrounding them. Devi growls low, like an animal, kneading the steering wheel.  
The zombies close in on them, planting their scarred, bleeding hands on the vehicle.  
“Everyone hold on,” Devi demands lightly. She slams her foot on gas. The tires squeak as the car takes off, smashing through the zombies and flying down the street. Squee looks behind him through the rear window and watches as the zombie on the roof tumbles to the ground.  
“I guess the Nightmare decided to take the initiative first,” Tenna comments.  
“What do we do now?” Squee asks.  
“We’ll stick with our first plan and ask Satan if he knows where the Nightmare is,” Devi replies, “we just have to get there quickly.”  
She enters an intersection, not noticing the car adjacent to her running the stop sign. Squee sees it at the very last second.  
It smashes into them, erupting the airbags. They skid across the road from the force of the other car’s acceleration and only stop when they brake.  
Squee’s head is spinning, his vision speckled by stars. He barely notices Krik and Dillon jump out of their car and walk over to the passenger side. Krik opens the backseat door and starts to reach for Squee.  
Tenna slams her foot into Krik’s skull. She jumps out of the car and smashes her elbow into Dillon’s neck.  
Devi scrambles over the console and out of the car, then grabs Squee’s arm and pulls him out.  
“Squee, are you okay?” she asks, gently patting his cheeks. Squee blinks a couple of times and looks at her. The side of her head is bleeding and her clothes are speckled with blood. Squee is in a bit worse shape, covered in bruises, cuts, and gashes, having taken the most of the crash. Tenna is the least hurt, only sustaining a couple bruises.  
“Yeah, I-I think so,” he replies.  
“We gotta move,” Tenna demands as she draws a handgun from under her shirt.  
Devi nods and squeezes Squee’s hand as they run down the road, away from the healing Krik and Dillon.  
“Where are we gonna go?” Squee asks.  
“We need to get our injuries looked at,” Devi replies.  
“Let’s go to Charlie’s,” Tenna order.  
“Is it safe?” Squee asks.  
“Don’t worry, we’re not that far away,” Devi says.  
They take a sharp right into an alley but come to a quick stop. Standing in front of them, blocking their way, is an entire army of zombies. Bleeding, drooling, gibbering, scarred-up zombies.  
They quickly back up and try to run the other way, but are immediately blocked off by Krik and Dillon. They smirk ugly grins and step closer to them.  
“What now?” Squee asks.  
Tenna lifts her gun with speed that does not fit an average city girl and blasts a bullet into Krik and Dillon’s heads.  
“Run!” she barks as their bodies hit the ground. The trio quickly make a break for it, but the zombies behind them are much faster. A couple slam into Devi, causing her to lose her footing and slam through the door of a nearby building. She looks up and, to her relief, sees that nobody noticed. She quickly scrambles deeper into the building and towards safety.  
Tenna and Squee aren’t as lucky, however. They barely reach the main road before the zombies are on them, tearing at their already damaged skin. Tenna fights back with surprising speed and strength, kicking in their skulls or chest cavities, shooting them in their heads or knees with amazing expertise, and doing her very best to protect Squee. But there’s just too many. They’ll never survive at this rate.  
Something smashes through the thick of the zombies, diverting everyone’s attention. It’s a small, grey car. The driver loses control from all the bodies under his wheels and spins around the road until coming to a perfect, parallel stop at the curb.  
Johnny steps out of the car, a knife in each hand.  
The remaining zombies roar at him, immediately recognizing their killer. They charge them but Johnny is unfazed. He lifts his knives and slices through the zombies, fluidly, almost rhythmically, until they’re all dead once again.  
Squee and Tenna stare at him, bewildered, as he walks over, slipping his knives into his jacket. He looks at them and cocks his head.  
“Fuck, you guys look like shit,” he comments.  
Tenna’s face lights up like fireworks as she starts jumping around, punching the air. “You came! You actually came back! God, I’m so happy I could kiss you!”  
“Please don’t,” Johnny grunts.  
Tenna continues jumping around happily. Johnny looks at Squee who stares up at him with his big, brown eyes.  
His face suddenly splits into a huge smile. “Thanks for coming back,” he says.  
Johnny flinches and quickly looks away. “Uh, yeah, well… it suddenly became apparent to me that you guys would never survive without me. So I thought I should, you know, help.”  
He looks around. “So where’s Devi?”  
Tenna suddenly freezes, mid-cheer, and looks around. “She-she’s not here? Shit! Do you think the zombies got her?”  
Johnny looks over into the alley but sees no blood or any other evidence that she was stolen. “I don’t think so.”  
“What about Dillon and Krik?” Squee asks.  
“They’re here too?” Johnny asks.  
“They were,” he replies, “they were right there.” He points at the place where he saw them last, after Tenna shot them, but they’re not there anymore.  
Johnny looks around and sniffs the air, but he senses no other presences.  
“Maybe Devi got away,” Tenna suggests, “if she did she probably went to Charlie’s. We should go too.”  
“Right,” Johnny nods, “everyone get in the car.”  
They step over the many bodies littering the road and climb into the car. They drive in relative silence, except for the light groaning of Tenna and Squee as the pain of their injuries start setting in.  
“So, what really made you come back?” Tenna asks.  
Johnny sighs. “Just a really good bitch slapping from my Nailbunny. It really woke me up.”  
“What’s ‘Nailbunny’?”  
He blinks. “I… don’t know.”  
They arrive at the apartment building a few minutes later and begin their trek up to Charlie’s room.  
“I can’t believe this place doesn’t have an elevator,” Johnny mutters.  
“Trust me, the people here need the exercise,” Tenna comments.  
They reach Charlie’s room and knock on the door. He answers as he wipes his hands with a white cloth.  
“Jeez, Tenna,” he exclaims, “what the hell happ- no, wait. I don’t want to know.”  
“Can you fix us up?” she asks.  
“Yes, come on in,” he replies and holds the door open.  
“Is Devi here?” Squee asks.  
“She was but she left not that long ago.”  
“Why?” Johnny asks.  
“I don’t know. She said something about them being gone and took off,” Charlie explains.  
“Them being gone?” Tenna questions.  
“We’ll figure it out later,” Johnny declares, “Charlie, fix Squee first.”  
“Of course,” he nods and leads the boy into the operation room. He doesn’t do too much, just cleans the wounds and bandages him up. He even gives him a lollypop when he’s done.  
“Aw, man. I want a lollypop,” Johnny mutters as Squee walks over and sits with him on the couch.  
“Tenna, come on,” Charlie orders. Tenna enters the operation room, leaving the boys alone.  
The room is filled with a comfortable silence, except for the slight slurping of Squee licking his candy. He glances at Johnny, and notices a growing wet spot on his left sleeve. It doesn’t take him long to realize what’s going on.  
“Johnny, you’re bleeding!” he exclaims.  
“Hm? Oh, look at that,” Johnny mutters as he rolls up his sleeve, revealing fresh, bleeding cuts. “They must’ve opened up when I was fighting those zombies. Ah, well.”  
Squee stares at him as he rolls his sleeve back down and sits back like it’s not a big deal. Finally he asks, “you did that yourself, didn’t you?”  
Johnny doesn’t reply. Just glances at him before looking away uncomfortably.  
“Johnny? Why do you… hurt yourself?” Squee asks.  
Johnny sighs. “Well… a long time ago it was for curiosity. You know, I would wonder if something hurt really as bad as it looked and then I would try it out on myself. Nothing major, just cuts, gashes, burns. But it never hurt as much as my victims made it look.”  
“It was never for punishment. At least, that’s what I thought,” he rambles, “but at some point it stopped being for curiosity’s sake. At some point I started doing it just for the sake of feeling something.”  
He runs his fingers through his hair and sighs. “I… hate emotions. I hate feelings. I hate urges. I just hate them. So I wanted to get rid of them. But once you do, then what are you? Nothing. Just an empty shell. The more I started ridding myself of feelings, the more I realized this. And I discovered that the only way to keep myself from being empty was by stimulating something that no one can ever lose.”  
“Pain. Pain is real. It’s powerful. It’s immortal. It doesn’t matter how strong somebody is, how thick-skinned or immune. Everyone can feel pain, at any time.”  
He rolls down his sleeve and runs his fingers along his fresh cuts. “But for some reason I didn’t feel it. I didn’t feel anything. No pain. Nothingness.”  
Johnny sighs again and rests his arms behind his head, not bothering to roll down his sleeve.  
Squee is quiet for a few minutes. Then he asks, “why do you hate emotions?”  
“They lead to vulnerability,” Johnny replies plainly, “whether you’re by yourself or with someone, all types of emotion somehow lead to vulnerability. And being vulnerable to someone is something I never want to do.”  
Squee fiddles with Shmee’s arms for a few seconds, working up the courage to continue. “Is it really emotions you’re afraid of? Or is it actually people?”  
“What?” Johnny questions.  
“I-I mean… just…” Squee stammers, “I-I-I was just thinking… you can’t really be vulnerable to someone without being with someone. Right? S-so maybe you’re just afraid of being near people.”  
Johnny stares at him, curiously and somewhat judgementally. “How would you understand that?  
Squee smiles sadly. “I think I would understand that, not wanting to be close to people. My parents hated being close to me, literally and figuratively. And my peers always made fun of me in any way they possibly could. So, yes, I understand better than most people how terrible this world can be.”  
“But I also understand how nice this world can be too,” he adds, “there are lots of mean people but there are also some nice people too, mixed into the bunch. Kind of like… mixed nuts. There’s the gross kind and the tasty kind. And sometimes you gotta dig through the gross kind to find the tasty ones.”  
“I-I think if you took the time to dig through the gross nuts instead of immediately deciding that every nut is gross, you’d eventually find a nut that you actually like the taste of,” Squee concludes.  
Johnny blinks, his criticisms slowly changing to surprise and… admiration. “How do you know so much?” he asks, “are you really just a kid?”  
Squee smiles, “some kids understand a lot more than adults.”  
“Yeah,” Johnny sighs, “I guess that is true.”  
He sits back and stares at the ceiling. “A nut I might actually like the taste of,” he muses.  
He glances at Squee then quickly looks away.


	18. Chapter 18

Devi scrambles through the building, away from the zombies as quickly as her injuries will allow. She finds a backdoor and bursts through it. She pants and leans against the wall, wiping blood from her face.  
She looks back, thinking about Tenna and Squee. She draws her gun and starts to tiptoe around the building to the other side of the alley, hoping to take the zombies by surprise. Unfortunately she doesn’t get the chance. As she turns the corner, she nearly walks into Krik and Dillon.  
“Well, well. Looks like we’ve got a little mouse,” Krik smirks.  
“Time to do some exterminating,” Dillon laughs.  
Devi quickly lifts her gun and shoots them. She doesn’t stop to see where she hit, only glad she managed to slow the zombies down. She spins around on her heel and races down the road. She ignores the pain of her injuries and temporarily forgets about her friends, only focusing on getting to safety.  
She doesn’t stop running until she reaches a busy road, full of people and vehicles. She peeks behind her, searching for the undead duo. She sighs with relief when she doesn’t see them and quickly gathers her bearings. When she realizes where she is, she makes her way to her apartment building. If Tenna and Squee survive- which they will- they’ll meet her there, at Charlie’s place.  
She limps through the crowds of people going in the opposite direction. None of them pay attention to her, despite the fact that she is slightly dripping blood.  
It takes her a few minutes to reach her apartment. She stumbles up the stairs, her stamina quickly draining. By the time she reaches Charlie’s apartment, she’s about ready to pass out. She knocks on his door and leans against the doorframe.  
Charlie answers quickly. “Devi! Good God, look at you! What happ- never mind, I don’t wanna know.”  
“Can you help me?” she asks.  
“Sure, sure. Come in,” he nods and helps her to his operating room. He sets her on the bed and quickly washes her wounds.  
“It’s not that bad. There’s just a lot of blood,” he shrugs, “you just need some bandages.”  
“So where are your friends?” he asks as he cleans her injuries.  
“I’m not sure where Tenna and Squee are,” she replies, “as for Johnny… well, I couldn’t give a damn where he is.”  
“Have a little spat, did you?” he grunts.  
“A spat?” she scoffs, “I always knew he was an asshole. A selfish, crazy asshole. But I had no idea he was such a fucking coward. One thing doesn’t go his way and he just gives up, like a baby. Fuck, he pisses me off.”  
Charlie smiles sadly. “I don’t know anything about Johnny or your relationship with him, so I don’t wanna take sides. But I don’t think his… cowardice is completely unfounded. His life probably isn’t as great as you make it out to be.”  
“What do you mean?” Devi asks.  
“Like I said, I don’t know much about his personality or his private life. But you can learn a lot about a person by examining their body. And as a doctor, I do that a lot,” he explains, “you probably didn’t notice it because of the bright lights, but when I was working on Johnny’s wounds before, I saw… his body… I’ve never seen anything like it.”  
“His entire body, from his feet to his shoulders, is completely covered in scars. All kinds of different scars: scratches, cuts, gashes, even burns. And I just knew that they were self-inflicted.”  
“Devi, I’m not saying he’s a nice guy and I’m not saying you’re not allowed to hate him,” he clarifies, “you just shouldn’t let your hatred cloud your vision. If you paid more attention, you’d probably see that… he hates himself a lot more.”  
Devi is quiet for a few minutes. Then she sighs, “you know, my boss said the same thing. And Squee believes that Johnny’s a good guy, just sad and lonely.”  
“Maybe… maybe I’m the one who’s wrong.”  
Charlie finishes dressing Devi’s wounds in silence. He wraps her worst injuries in bandages and helps her off the bed.  
“Thanks, Charlie,” she mutters, “would it be cool if I stayed here for a bit? Tenna and Squee will meet me here.”  
“Sure, stay as long as you like,” he nods.  
She smiles, but it’s small and somewhat forced. She can’t stop thinking about Johnny. Maybe she could try being a bit nicer…?  
Suddenly, for some reason, she feels something’s amiss. Something feels different.  
She reaches into her bag and looks around. Then she realizes it.  
Sickness’ eyes are gone!  
“They’re gone!” she exclaims.  
“Huh? What?” Charlie questions.  
“I-I gotta go,” she says quickly as she rushes for the door. “Thanks for all your help, Charlie.”  
“Uh, sure,” he mutters as he watches her fly through the door and down the hall.  
Devi races through the building and up to her apartment, fueled by her fear and anger. Sickness’ eyes are gone. That must mean she’s reviving. I have to find her and destroy her.  
“Good luck with that.”  
She skids to a stop as that familiar voice rings through her head.  
“Sickness,” she growls.  
“Hello, Devi. It’s good to be alive again. Thank you for helping me with that. I hope you can help me more.”  
“Fuck you. I’m going to destroy again, just like last time,” Devi snarls and continues racing up to her floor.  
“You won’t make it,” Sickness taunts.  
“What are you going to do? Slow me down again?”  
“No, no. I have no need to.”  
Devi growls like an animal and immediately speeds up. She’s not going to let that doll look down on her like this. Not in a million years.  
She bursts through her door and looks around, her gun in her hand. Her apartment is eerily quiet and dark. She tries to flip on the light switch, but it doesn’t work. So she takes out her cell phone and uses it illuminate her room. She looks around cautiously, her heart pounding from the suspense.  
She notices movement to her right and quickly turns around, but she doesn’t see anything. She nearly jumps out of her skin when the door slams behind her. She backs away farther into the room.  
“Damn it, Sickness! Show yourself!” she barks.  
“As you wish.”  
Something slams into the back of her head. She gasps with surprise and falls to the ground. She quickly rolls onto her back and looks around. Standing on her coffee table, with her newly screwed in eyes, is Sickness.  
Her blade-like legs scrape across the wood as she saunters towards Devi. “It’s so good to see you again. I really do mean that. I have missed you since I’ve been away. Even if we did have a bad goodbye. You haven’t changed much, except for your pigtails. I liked them better when they were higher up, instead of low like they are now.”  
“Well, you look the exact same as I remember,” Devi comments.  
“Yes, I’ve grown quite fond of this form,” Sickness nods, “but I am up for change. What do you think?”  
“I for one liked you the way before, when you nothing but a pair of bolts in my bag,” she growls.  
“Oh, Devi, why can’t we just be friends?” Sickness sighs.  
Devi grabs her gun and shoots at her. She easily jumps out of the way and lands on the TV.  
“You know, if you just gave up and joined us, you would never have to worry about anything ever again,” Sickness points out.  
“Fuck that. I’d be nothing but a lifeless, unoriginal husk,” Devi barks.  
“Well, yes,” she nods, “but that’s the non-worrying part.”  
Devi shoots again and again. Sickness dodges with ease and speed. In the blink of an eye, she’s right in front of Devi’s face.  
She’s fast!  
Sickness kicks her legs and slices open Devi’s hands. She shouts in pain and drops her gun. Sickness twists in the air and lands once again on the coffee table.  
“You see, I’m a lot stronger than before,” she states, “you can’t beat me. The Nightmare has blessed me with incredible speed. And I’ll become even stronger when you let me have your creativity. Don’t you want to be part of that?”  
“Fuck you,” Devi snarls.  
“Well, it doesn’t matter,” Sickness shrugs, “it’s not really your choice anyway. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been siphoning your imagination ever since I regained my body.”  
Devi growls and charges the doll. She easily jumps out of the way. Devi swings at her again and again, but she doesn’t even come close.  
She falls to her knees, panting. She feels really tired and very unlike herself.  
“You’re starting to notice it, aren’t you?” Sickness asks, her voice laced with pity. “That’s one of the side effects: exhaustion. You start to feel tired of everything, even just keeping your eyes open. It’s sad really. I mean, Mr. Fuck, Psycho Doughboy, and Reverend Meat all rely on one creator for his endless imagination. Can you imagine how awful it must be to be tired like this all the time?”  
Devi gasps. That’s right. Johnny is the creator of all three of those minions. Is… is this how he feels all the time?  
“I’m not done,” Devi snarls as she forces herself to her feet. “Not yet.”  
She jumps onto her coffee table and kicks at Sickness. The doll sighs wearily and jumps over her leg. She lands in the exact same position.  
“It’s useless, Devi. You’re just making it harder on yourself,” Sickness says sadly, “with your stamina depleting from your imagination being siphoned, there’s no possible way you could keep up with me. Not even at full health could you do it. So just please stop trying.”  
“I won’t! I won’t let you have my imagination!” Devi barks and kicks at her again. Sickness just hops out of the way and lands on the couch.  
“Come on. It won’t hurt so bad if you just lie still,” Sickness says, “let’s watch some TV. I bet there are some good game shows on.”  
“Fuck game shows,” Devi snaps, “give me back my creativity!”  
She tries to kick Sickness again, but she loses her balance and slams into the floor. Sickness sighs with pity.  
Devi slams her fist into the floor with frustration. Her body isn’t working right, her vision is blurry, her mind is swimming. And try as she might, she just can’t focus. But there is one thought that’s wandering through her mind.  
Sit down and watch TV.  
She hates this. She doesn’t feel like herself. It’s almost like someone else is controlling her. Like she’s a character on a third-person video game.  
She tugs at her pigtails. “Stop this. Please. Stop.”  
“I told you, it’ll be less painful if you just stop fighting,” Sickness says, “sit down; watch some game shows with me.”  
“That… does sound good,” Devi nods.  
She walks over to the couch, almost robotically, a dazed look on her face. As she starts to sit down, out of the corner of her eye, she sees her studio. Her room full of easels, canvases, paints, and her paintings. The things she’s created, slaved over, cried over, bled for. The creations that make her who she is.  
Her eyes roll over to the TV as her left hand drifts into her bag and grips a thin, wooden cylinder.  
She suddenly spins around on her feet and stabs the end of a paintbrush into Sickness’ forehead. She screams in agony.  
“Fuck you!” Devi barks as she lifts up the doll by her ponytails. “I told you before, Sickness. This is my life. And I don’t like sharing.”  
“No. You-you should be under our control,” Sickness whimpers.  
“Nobody controls me,” she snarls, “I am nobody’s slave!”  
She throws Sickness to the floor and lifts her foot. She stomps on Sickness multiple times, causing blood red paint to splatter her floors. Sickness’ screams grow louder and louder each time Devi brings her foot down.  
She stops and picks up Sickness. She grabs her gun and marches into her art room. She slams Sickness onto a canvas and jabs the barrel of her gun into the doll’s forehead, right next to the paintbrush.  
“You-you can’t possibly… win,” Sickness gags, blood dripping from her mouth. “The Nightmare is eternal. You… can’t defeat it.”  
“Fuck nightmares,” Devi grunts, “I prefer daydreams.”  
She pulls the trigger. Sickness’ head splatters all over the canvas, painting it bright red. Devi lets the body drop to the ground before shooting it with her last bullet, completely annihilating it as well.  
She pants, her adrenaline disappearing as fast as it appeared. Her gun slips from her hand as she stumbles out of her art room. She’s still suffering from the exhaustion of being siphoned. But now that Sickness is dead, it’s slowly getting better.  
She hears a faint knock at her door. She limps towards it, panting and sweating heavily. She puts her hand on the doorknob and opens it. She barely notices three figures in the doorway before she passes out.


	19. Chapter 19

Johnny paces back and forth in his room, grumbling incessantly to himself.  
“‘Maybe you’re just afraid of being near people.’ Where does he get off saying that?” he barks, “how would he understand any of that? How would he…”  
He leans against the wall and slides down to the floor. “How would he know that?”  
He runs his fingers through his hair and groans angrily. “I have spent years putting walls up around myself. And then this kid comes along, and breaks it down.”  
He stops and looks up. “No. No, my walls are still up. He didn’t knock them down. He just stepped through them, like a ghost. That fucking kid, he can read the emotions I’ve worked so hard to lock down like an open book.”  
“Nny, you’re so flustered,” Eff comments as he, D-boy, and Revered Meat appear in the broken mirror.  
Johnny grunts and looks away. He rubs his chest where his heart would be.  
“I… don’t understand a lot of this. But I do know one thing,” he declares as he stands up. He faces the minions in his mirror, his dark eyes glowing angrily. “I will protect Squee. And the Nightmare will never get his creepy tentacles or other such appendages on him. Mark my words.”  
“Oh, it’s on, Nny,” D-boy snaps.  
“You wanted a war, you got one!” Eff laughs maniacally.  
“Just remember, you had your chance,” Meat grunts and they disappear.  
Johnny glares at the mirror for a few seconds. He sighs and leaves the room.

 

Devi’s eyes blink open. She rubs them as she sits up and looks around. She’s in her bedroom. There is gauze wrapped around her wrists, where Sickness cut her. How did this happen?  
She gets out of her bed and walks into her living room. Tenna is sitting on the couch, watching TV. Her face lights up at the sign of Devi.  
“Hey! You’re awake!” she exclaims and jumps to her feet. “How do you feel?”  
“Pretty good, actually,” Devi replies, “what happened?”  
“After Johnny saved Squee and me from those zombies we came here to look for you,” Tenna explains.  
“Wait, wait, wait! Johnny saved you?” she questions.  
“Yeah. Anyway, we stopped at Charlie’s first. But then we heard gunshots so we ran up to your room,” she continues, “and when we got here, you answered the door but then immediately passed out. So we cleaned your injuries and put you to bed. That was last night sometime.”  
“Where is Johnny?” Devi asks.  
“At his place,” Tenna replies, “they left last night. So what happened with you?”  
Devi looks around her apartment. There’s no sign of her battle anywhere, not even Sickness’ remains in her art room.  
“I… beat Sickness,” she mutters.  
“Really? That’s great!” Tenna exclaims happily.  
Devi smiles. “Yeah, it is.”  
“Anyway now that you’re awake we should head over to Johnny’s. We planned to meet up there in the morning,” Tenna explains.  
“Alright,” she sighs, “let’s go.”  
They leave Devi’s apartment and head to her car. From there they drive to Johnny’s house in silence. Devi feels awkward about meeting up with him. She doesn’t know what she’s going to say.  
She parks the car on the curb outside Johnny’s house. They march up the walk and Tenna bursts through the door.  
“Coming in!” she announces.  
Johnny glances up at them. He’s sitting on the couch and watching a cartoon on TV.  
“Morning,” he grunts.  
“Morning,” Devi mutters.  
“Where’s Squee?” Tenna asks.  
“Still asleep,” Johnny replies.  
“I haven’t had breakfast yet. Do you have anything to eat?” she asks as she trots into his kitchen.  
“Probably not but feel free to look around,” he shrugs.  
Devi sighs and sits with him on the couch. She’s stiff as she stares at the floor. Johnny doesn’t seem to care through, as he is completely enthralled by the cartoon.  
“You’re actually watching cartoons?” Devi scoffs.  
“I like cartoons,” he shrugs.  
“That’s so juvenile,” she comments.  
“That’s probably why I like them,” he grunts, “that and the humor and the overall ridiculousness.”  
Devi twirls her pigtail as she stares at him from the corner of her eye. She sighs and shifts uncomfortably.  
“Um… listen, Johnny. It’s… um… well, I mean,” she stammers then sighs again. “I’m sorry for the way I’ve been treating you lately. I just… I guess you don’t really deserve it. I’m not saying I forgive you for trying to kill me. It’s just…”  
“When I fought Sickness, she had already started siphoning my imagination,” she explains, “I felt exhausted and weak. I didn’t feel like myself. It was like I was being controlled by something else. And all I wanted to do was watch game shows.”  
“And then I realized you must feel like three times worse than that all the time, because Mr. Fuck, Psycho Doughboy, and Reverend Meat are always siphoning your imagination. Right? Nobody deserves to feel that way. Not even a homicidal maniac like yourself. So I’m sorry for treating you the way I did. And I promise I will help you beat the Nightmare so we can all be free.”  
“You talk a lot,” Johnny comments.  
“What?” Devi snaps, ready to break his nose.  
“But.” He looks away and scratches his neck. “Thank you.”  
Devi smiles and twirls her ponytail. “Sure, no problem.”  
“Aw, you two are so cute,” Tenna coos as she walks in, a Poptart in her hand. She sits next to Devi on the couch and munches quietly.  
“So what’s the plan?” Devi asks.  
“We have to find out where the Nightmare is,” Johnny replies, “so I say we stick to your original plan and ask Satan for help. Of course in exchange one of you will have to give up your soul.”  
“Why one of us?” Tenna exclaims.  
“What, you think I have a soul to sell?” he scoffs.  
“Okay, enough with the jokes please,” Devi snaps.  
“We’ll leave when Squee wakes up,” Johnny declares, “he deserves to sleep in.”  
The trio watches TV quietly for a few minutes, enjoying the exploits of the odd cartoon characters. Unfortunately, their peacefulness is suddenly interrupted by a loud, high-pitched squeak.  
“What was that?” Devi asks.  
“Squee,” Johnny breathes. He jumps off the couch and races to the bedroom, the girls close behind. He bursts through the door. There is a man, a zombie, standing in the darkness with an unconscious Squee over his shoulder. Despite the minimal light, Johnny recognizes him immediately.  
“Krik,” he snarls. He grabs a knife from his jacket and prepares to charge him, but suddenly stops at the sound of Devi screaming.  
He spins around to Dillon, who as Devi’s arms pinned behind her back and has jabbed a syringe in her neck. Devi’s eyes glaze over and she quickly passes out.  
“Hey!” Tenna shouts. She tries to punch him, but Jimmy suddenly appears behind her and shoves her to the wall. He also has a syringe, which he jabs into her neck. She blacks out as well.  
“Bastards,” Johnny snarls. He hears movement behind him. He spins around and swings his knife, slicing the top of Krik’s head off.  
Jimmy and Dillon charge him, syringes in both of them hands. Johnny swings his knife and slices through Dillon’s arms, but Jimmy manages to dodge. He drops to a crouch and jabs one syringe into Johnny’s stomach. He winces but doesn’t fall. Instead, he slams his foot into Jimmy’s face.  
Krik rises behind him and jabs another syringe into his neck. Johnny quickly pulls it out and slices open Krik’s chest.  
Dillon takes his syringe and sticks it into Johnny’s thigh. He responds by smashing his foot into his neck.  
“That was enough drugs to knock out an elephant, and he still isn’t down!” Krik exclaims.  
“Wait a second,” Jimmy demands.  
Johnny’s vision starts blurring. He leans against the wall and glares at the three zombies, panting and barely conscious. They crowd around him. He tries to lift his knife but his body doesn’t respond.  
His legs give out and he falls to the floor, unconscious.


	20. Chapter 20

Unauthorized system shut down.  
Preparing system reboot…  
…  
Reboot successful.  
System restart.  
Before Johnny’s eyes even have a chance to blink open, he immediately notices that something is wrong. His gloveless fingers wrap around his shackles. His bootless ankles wiggle in their braces. He opens his eyes and examines his situation.  
He’s upright, shackled to an old, metal bedframe. His wrists are above his head, the chain connecting them wrapped around a brace. His legs are spread apart, his ankle chained to the bottom corners of the frame. His jacket, boots, and gloves are gone.  
“A bedframe,” Nny grunts, “how redneck.”  
“Oh, you’re awake. That’s surprising. With all the drugs they pumped into you, I didn’t think you would wake up.”  
Johnny looks up and examines the room. It’s mostly empty except for a table and a zombie. He’s facing him with a blank look on his face.  
“I don’t suppose you remember me. It has been a long time,” he says.  
“Of course I remember you,” Johnny argues, “you were the only victim I ever had a meaningful conversation with, Edgar Vargas.”  
Edgar sniffs and pushes up his glasses as he hobbles over to Johnny. “I’m flattered.”  
“I’m not gonna lie, it’s nice to see you again, Edgar,” he says, “even if you are horribly scarred. But I suppose that’s my fault. It really takes me back, though, the two of us captured here.”  
“You’re the only one who’s captured,” Edgar points out.  
“You think? It doesn’t look that way to me,” Johnny mutters.  
“The tables have turned, Johnny. Now you’re my prisoner,” he growls.  
“Physically, perhaps,” he nods, “but mentally, I think we’re both prisoners.”  
Edgar blinks and looks away as he adjusts his glasses. Then he groans and glares at him.  
“Forget it. I won’t let you mess with my head the same way you messed with Tess,” he barks.  
“Tess? What are you talking about?” Johnny asks.  
“You said things to Tess. And because of what you said she disobeyed Lady Zoli and helped you get away,” Edgar explains, “she was punished brutally for it.”  
“Helped me?” Johnny questions. He thinks about the time he met Tess in Hell. How Squee had found the keys to his handcuffs. Then it hits him.  
“Tess left the keys for Squee to find,” he exclaims.  
“I won’t let you get to me,” Edgar declares, “no matter what you say.”  
Johnny glares at him and sighs. “It’s sad. Before I killed you, you were so sure that you would go to Heaven, that I would be punished for being evil. That you had nothing to fear. But now look at you. You’re just a zombie, a puppet for an even stronger force of evil.”  
Edgar seems to be ignoring him as he absentmindedly taps the table.  
“Edgar, where’s Devi, Tenna, and Squee?” Johnny asks.  
“I don’t know,” he replies, “Krik and Dillon took Squee and Jimmy took Devi and Tenna. I didn’t think it was a good idea, but he is our second-in-command.”  
“Jimmy has Devi and Tenna!” Johnny exclaims.  
A thousand bad feelings erupt in his gut. He squirms and growls.  
“Don’t worry, he can’t kill them. Not until Lord Nightmare siphons their imagination,” Edgar says.  
“There’s a lot he can do that doesn’t involve killing,” Johnny mutters darkly. He takes a deep breath and exhales slowly.  
“I’m sorry, Edgar. I was having a nice conversation with you, but I’m afraid I must take my leave now,” he sighs.  
“You mean escape? How are you gonna manage that?” Edgar asks.  
“Before I even woke up,” Johnny smirks, “I had begun my escape.”  
He grips the chains of his shackles and pulls hard, tearing the chain links off the frame’s brace. He falls forward and slams his hands into the floor. He swings his bottom half around, taking the bedframe with him. The force and weight is enough to tear his ankles shackles off the frame and sending flying right into Edgar. They both slam into the opposite wall.  
Johnny jumps to his feet and races for the door. He kicks it open and runs down the hall, his bare feet slamming against the stone floor and the chains of his shackles jiggling quietly.  
He has no idea where he is, or where the others are. But he can’t think about that right now. He has to find the girls. Who knows what that disgusting prick Jimmy is going to do to them.  
Actually, Johnny does know. And that makes him run faster.  
Meanwhile, on the other side of the mysterious building, Devi’s eyes blink open. It takes her a minute to register what’s going on, but when it all clicks, it clicks hard.  
She’s sitting on a floor in a large room made completely of stone. Her ankles are chained together and her wrists are shackled to the wall above her head.  
“You’re awake. Are you okay?” a familiar voice asks. Devi looks over and smiles with relief at Tenna. She’s in the same position, right next to her.  
“Yeah, I think so. My head hurts a little though,” Devi replies, “where are we?”  
“I don’t know,” Tenna replies, “but I think it’s connected to the Nightmare.”  
“Right you are, sweetheart.” The girls both jump and look up at the voice. Jimmy is sauntering into the room through an open doorway. He grins a sickening smile as he stares at them.  
“This is the Nightmare’s home base,” he announces, “pretty soon your precious imagination will become nothing more than sustenance to my lord. But before that, Lady Zoli said we’re allowed to have some fun with you for all the trouble you’ve caused us.  
“Where’s Johnny and Squee?” Devi barks.  
“Shush, shush,” Jimmy coos, “now, now, darling. There’s no need to concern yourself with those two. Right now your thoughts should be completely focused on me. Well, soon enough they will be.”  
“What are you-?” Devi starts to ask but suddenly stops when Jimmy straddles her, setting himself on her thin legs.  
“Get off of me!” she barks. She tries to squirm, but he has her held down tight. She can barely move.  
“Now, now, Princess,” Jimmy purrs, “there’s no use struggling. You are mine for the next few hours.”  
He runs his fingers along her cheek. She whimpers and turns away, her eyes squeezed shut.  
“Don’t touch her, you bastard!” Tenna shouts. Jimmy just laughs in response.  
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” he smirks, “you’ll get your turn.”  
He runs his hand from Devi’s face and down her torso, before sticking it up the bottom of her shirt. She squeaks from the feel of his cold hand on her bare stomach. He traces his fingers higher and higher. She trembles underneath him, on the verge of tears. It’s like a thousand beetles are crawling all over her skin. It’s nothing but disgusting.  
“I can’t believe you were two shirts. What a prude,” Jimmy grunts. He reaches behind him and pulls out two knives. Devi immediately recognizes them: the large blade, the neutral smiley face on the round guard. They’re Johnny’s knives.  
Jimmy takes one of the knives and slices through both of Devi’s shirt, right down the middle. Then he tears the rest of the fabric off, revealing her white bra.  
“They’re so tiny,” Jimmy laughs cruelly as he cups one of her breasts. Devi whimpers and flinches.  
“What an innocent reaction. Are you virgin?” he guffaws, “somebody you’re age, still a virgin? How pathetic.”  
Devi squeezes her eyes shut and whimpers as Jimmy runs his cold, snake-like fingers all over her skin. She can feel tears dripping down her face. She’s never felt this terrified, this helpless. Not even when Johnny attacked her.  
She flinches when she feels Jimmy’s fingers run over her bra clasp.  
Oh, God. Not like this. Please stop. Somebody, please. Stop this. Please. Help me.  
Jimmy licks his lips as he fingers her bra clasp. He stops when a leg suddenly appears in front of his face.  
Johnny slams his shin into Jimmy’s head, sending him flying into the opposite wall. Devi’s eyes fly open and she looks up at him with surprise.  
“Juh-Johnny,” she whimpers.  
Johnny looks down at her. “You okay, Devi?”  
She nods numbly.  
He stands directly in front of her as Jimmy clambers to his feet. “You didn’t actually think I’d let this prick do anything to you, did you?”  
She can only look up at him with shining eyes.  
“So, what are you?” Jimmy scoffs, “her knight in shining armor? I don’t think that suits you very well.”  
Johnny just glares at him. Jimmy paces in front of him, like a wild animal as he twirls his knives around his fingers.  
“What are you going to do, Nny?” he asks mockingly, “I have your knives. You’re defenseless. You can’t beat me.”  
Johnny grips the chains of his shackles. “Weapons don’t matter. I’m still going to kick your ass.”  
Jimmy laughs and charges him. Johnny jumps out of the way, away from the girls. Jimmy follows him and swings the knives wildly. Johnny dodges almost every attack, but still gets scratches and cuts here and there. Jimmy isn’t fighting seriously. He’s just playing with him.  
Johnny is suddenly pressed against a wall. Jimmy laughs and swings at him. Johnny dodges and slams his fist into Jimmy’s jaw. He gags and stumbles back. Johnny prepares another attack but Jimmy reacts faster. He stabs a knife through a chain link of Johnny’s right shackle, pinning him to the wall. Johnny tries to pull the knife out, but Jimmy attacks him before he can.  
Johnny slams his left arm against Jimmy’s keeping him from stabbing him with the knife.  
“Now what are you going to do?” Jimmy laughs, “you only have one hand.”  
“I told you before,” Johnny snarls. He slams his foot into Jimmy’s stomach, forcing him to stumble back a bit. Jimmy charges him again. Johnny grabs the chain of his left shackle and spins it around. When Jimmy swings the knife, Johnny wraps the chain around the blade. Then he slams his foot into Jimmy’s chest and yanks the knife out of his hand.  
Jimmy stumbles back and looks at him with surprise. Johnny smirks as he holds up his special knives.  
“I’m ambidextrous.”  
Jimmy growls and charges him again. Johnny lifts his knives and slices through Jimmy’s shoulders like butter. He spins around him and slices through his legs at the hip. And finally, he cuts off his head.  
The severed pieces fall to the floor, his head rolling all the way to the doorway.  
“Edgar, you douche,” Jimmy barks as he stares up at the other zombie. “Couldn’t you have tried to help me?”  
Jimmy looks over at Edgar as he jogs over to the girls.  
“Of course not,” Edgar grunts, “I’m not a fighter.”  
“You fucker! You let him get to you, didn’t you?” Jimmy shouts, “you and Tess are both so weak!”  
Johnny ignores them and focuses on the girls. He quickly cuts off the chains on their wrists and ankles, setting them free. Tenna immediately helps Devi to her feet. She takes off her first t-shirt and hands it to Devi, who slips it on.  
“Are you okay?” Johnny asks.  
“Yeah,” Devi replies, “thanks.”  
Johnny shrugs and looks over at the zombies. Edgar is leaning harmlessly against the doorway while Jimmy tries to repair himself. He’s shouting at his body as it wanders aimlessly around the room.  
Tenna runs up to him and shouts, “bunt!” as she kicks his head down the hall.  
“What now?” Devi asks.  
“We have to find Squee,” Johnny replies, “Krik and Dillon have him somewhere.”  
“Where are they?” he asks Edgar.  
“I don’t know,” Edgar replies, “I don’t know my whole way around this place.”  
Johnny sighs, “fine. I found you two. Finding Squee won’t be that hard.  
“After we find Squee, then what?” Tenna asks as they exit the room.  
“We take out the Nightmare.”


	21. Chapter 21

“I want him!” Dillon snaps.  
“I want him!” Krik retorts.  
“I want him!” Dillon barks.  
“I knocked him out. I should get him,” Krik points out.  
“He embarrassed me in front of Lady Zoli. I want my revenge!” Dillon snarls.  
Squee watches the pair from the stone floor, where he is sitting on his knees with his hands chained behind his back. Shmee is resting on a table on the other side of the room.  
“Hm,” Squee grunts thoughtfully.  
“What?” the zombies snap.   
“Nothing,” he says quickly, “I’ve just never experienced something like this. Usually people argue about not wanting me.”  
The duo glare at him for a second before Dillon steps forward. “I get first shot.”  
“No way!” Krik snaps and shoves him back. “I do!”  
“Gentleman, please quit your squabbling.”  
The boys look up at the sound of the voice. Standing on the table next to Shmee are the Doughboys, both looking pretty refined for Styrofoam.  
“Mr. Fuck, Psycho Doughboy,” Krik and Dillon exclaim before kneeling politely.  
“There’s no reason to argue,” D-boy explains as he hops off the table and strides over to Squee. “Recently we learned that Squee is just like Nny. Unlike the girls, who only have a set amount of imagination, Squee has an endless well. No matter how much is stolen from him, it’ll just multiply to keep the reservoir full. He has an infinite imagination.”  
“So, after the Nightmare drains Devi and Tenna,” Mr. Eff adds, “Johnny and Squee will be kept around, as sort of endless snacks for our lord.”  
“However, Squee does have a choice,” D-boy says as he looks up at the boy. “Squee, how would you like to join the Nightmare?”  
“What?” Squee exclaims.  
“It’s not so bad. We’ll protect you better than that bear ever could,” he explains, “you’ll be invisible. No one will ever hurt you, no matter what you do. You can even kill people and never get caught. And all we ask in return is your imagination. What do you say?”  
Squee looks away and nibbles the inside of his cheek. “Invisible? Nothing can hurt me? And all you want is my imagination?”  
“Exactly,” Eff nods.  
“That… is not a fair trade.”  
“What?” the Doughboys exclaim.  
Squee swallows hard and glares at the Styrofoam duo. “Writing stories is my passion. I love it more than anything, even life. And if I lose it then there’d be no point in living.”  
He steels his nerves and growls, “I’d rather be dead than a slave to the Nightmare.”  
“You’ve been spending too much time around Nny,” Eff sighs.  
“It doesn’t matter,” D-boy shrugs, “either way the Nightmare will own you. Whether you grow up on Earth or in a cell in this castle, your imagination is ours. Just remember, you had a choice.”  
Squee doesn’t waver. His entire body is trembling and his heart feels like it’s going to explode through his ribs, but his glare doesn’t waver. He will not cower away from the Doughboys.  
“Do what you will with him,” D-boy says to Krik and Dillon as he walks back to the table. “Just don’t kill him.”  
The zombie duo looks down at the trembling boy and smirk.  
“Let’s just beat him together,” Krik smirks.  
“Good idea,” Dillon snickers.  
Fear completely washes over Squee because this time he knows they’re serious.  
“Shmee,” he whimpers.  
“Stay calm, Squee,” Shmee demands, “I can help you. But first I need your help. To beat them and the Doughboys, I’m gonna need to siphon your imagination.”  
“What?” Squee exclaims.  
“Not all of it. Just enough for me to enter onto this plane of existence,” he clarifies, “but I will need to siphon a little bit more every few seconds to remain here.”  
“What-what do you mean?” Squee asks.  
“I don’t have time to explain,” Shmee grunts, “just trust me.”  
“Alright,” he nods, “take as much as you want.”  
“Stop talking, fag-lit,” Dillon growls.  
“Clench your teeth,” Krik warns.  
They both lift their legs and slam their feet into Squee’s gut. He gags as he flies across the room into the wall. He falls to the floor as his breath rushes from his lungs.  
The zombies laugh and stride towards him. Squee tries to run away but he can’t move right. He can’t breathe.  
Krik and Dillon stand over him. Dillon starts to lift his foot, most likely to stomp on Squee. But before he can, something slams into him and sends him flying across the room.  
Before Krik even has a chance to figure out what happened, that same thing slams into him and sends him in the opposite direction.  
Shmee lands in a crouch on the floor. He looks at Squee and smirks.  
“You okay?” he asks as he begins undoing his handcuffs.  
“I… I will be,” Squee grunts as he sits up, rubbing his wrists. “You… you can touch them? Can they see you?”  
“Yes. I’m part of this plane of existence now,” Shmee nods, “but not for long, so let’s get out of here.”  
“You aren’t going anywhere, you rat nest,” Eff snaps. Both Doughboys are standing in front of the only door, looking right pissed.  
“You want a piece of me, you Styrofoam fucks?” Shmee grunts as he stands in front of Squee.  
“You don’t stand a chance,” D-boy growls.  
“Squee, listen to me,” Shmee growls, “once that door is unblocked, make a break for it. And don’t stop running, got it?”  
“Okay,” Squee nods. He stands up on shaky legs, his breath trembling. But he trusts Shmee. And he’s ready.  
“The odds are unfair,” Eff points out, “it’s two against one.”  
“You’re right,” Shmee smirks, “feel free to get back-up.”  
The Doughboys snarl. Shmee grins and charge them. He jumps down and falls on them, leg first. They jump out of the way and he smashes the stone floor with his supposedly plush foot.  
Shmee quickly jumps out of the way when they swing at him. The Doughboys start attacking him relentlessly, but he dodges each attempt. They jump all over the room like gravity doesn’t even exist, bouncing off the walls, ceiling, and floors. Squee is so enthralled in the fight, he temporarily forgets his current situation.  
“Oh, right!” he exclaims. He quickly runs across the room to the door and jiggles the knob.  
“Locked,” he squeaks.  
“Of course. You didn’t think we’d actually leave it open, did you?” Krik scoffs. Both zombies are on their feet again and stalking towards the boy.  
Squee presses himself against the door, continuously jiggling the knob, hoping against hope that it’ll open.  
“Now sit still,” Dillon demands as he pulls back his fist. He swings. Squee ducks with amazing speed. Dillon smashes completely though the door. He shouts in pain and pulls his hand back. Squee takes the chance and jumps though the hole and out into the hallway.  
“Shit! After him!” Krik demands. The zombies clamber through the door and chase after him. But Squee is much faster than them and gains quite the lead. Unfortunately he doesn’t know his way around like the zombies do.  
He follows the length of the hallway until it turns right. As he takes the turn, he looks behind him. Krik and Dillon are nowhere to be seen. But Squee doesn’t stop running.  
He looks back ahead and squeals when he sees the undead duo emerging from a room up ahead. They completely block the hallway, their fists drawn back.  
Squee can’t stop now. He’s going at full speed. But he can’t exactly plow through the zombies. Is there any way he can get past them?  
His eyes widen when he spots it. A space between Dillon’s legs. He might just be able to slide between.  
He speeds up, his eyes narrowing with concentration. The zombies smirk as they prepare to punch him.  
They swing. He ducks and, using the force of his dash, slides cleanly between Dillon’s legs. Both zombies are so bewildered, they don’t even realize what’s happened until Squee is already halfway across the hall.  
“What the fuck? Is he a fucking ninja?” Krik snaps as they continue to chase after him.  
“We cannot let him get away!” Dillon barks.  
Squee gains the lead on them again. He’s had quite the history of running from and avoiding things, so he’s kind of an expert on it. In perfect conditions, no one can ever hope of catching him.  
Unfortunately, these conditions are not perfect.  
He slides to a sudden stop, his heart sinking at the sight before him.  
“A dead end,” he sighs. He turns around and scans the hallway. “One of those doors must lead to another hallway. I just have to figure out which one.”  
He starts to move forward but stops when he notices Krik and Dillon quickly running towards him. He jumps back against the wall, his arms up in front of his chest.  
“We got you now,” Krik hisses. He swings his fist. Squee dodges quickly. Krik grunts in pain when he punches the wall.  
They both swing at him incessantly, but Squee dodges each attempt. He’s so quick; he’s really pissing off the zombies. And that just makes their attacks sloppier.  
When they’ve finally both retracted in pain, Squee slides past them and towards the doors. He throws open the first one and looks around. Just an empty room. He goes to the second door. Another room.  
Where does he have to go?  
He starts to go to the third door when something tugs on the back of his shirt and lifts him off his feet.  
“Got’cha,” Krik snarls.  
Dillon smirks as he stands in front of them and draws back his fist. There’s no dodging this, so Squee curls up in a ball and covers his face.  
Krik suddenly drops him. Squee lands hard on the floor, just under Dillon’s fist. He turns around to see what’s going on. Krik is on the floor and Shmee is standing on him.  
Without wasting anytime, the bear flies off Krik and smashes into Dillon, breaking his ribs. The zombie gags and collapses to the floor. He turns and faces Squee.  
“I-I got lost,” Squee whimpers.  
“It’s okay, just find a place to hide,” Shmee demands frantically, “they’re not that far behind me.”  
“Whuh-,” Squee starts to say, but is cut-off when the Doughboys slam into Shmee.  
The three of them tumble across the floor, thrashing at each other. They slam into the wall and stand up, facing off with each other.  
“We got you, you weak little rat nest,” D-boy laughs.  
“Screw you, Styrofoam pricks,” Shmee snarls.  
“You’ve got quite the dirty mouth for a teddy bear,” Eff comments.  
“Says a doll named ‘Fuck’,” he retorts.  
They glare at each other, the suspense rising. Squee starts panting as he sits on his knees and watches the supernatural fight begin again.


	22. Chapter 22

Eff jumps at Shmee and they fly into the right wall. Shmee kicks Eff in his stomach and sends him into the left wall. D-boy tackles the bear to the floor. He slams his fuzzy little fist into the Styrofoam chin. D-boy tumbles across the floor.  
Shmee jumps to his feet at the same time as the Doughboys. They glare at each other before the Doughboys charge.  
Shmee meets them head-on. He blocks all of their attacks with his arms then falls onto his back to dodge. He catches himself on his hands and slams his feet towards the Doughboys. They jump out of the way and fall onto Shmee, fists first. He blocks with his forearms and shoves them back.  
Shmee does three backflips away and lands on his haunches. The Doughboys wipe their mouths and charge him simultaneously. They jump in the air, either side of Shmee, and drop kick him. He tries to block but the force sends him back a couple feet. The Doughboys take advantage of his slight disorientation and swing at him. They connect with his chin and send him tumbling down the floor, stopping next to Squee.  
“Shmee!” he exclaims. Shmee sits up, wiping his mouth, and glares at the Doughboys.  
“Where’s your cocky attitude now, teddy bear?” Eff taunts.  
Shmee simply snarls at him.  
“You won’t be able to protect your precious boy with your pathetic skills,” D-boy warns.  
Shmee’s expression grows steadily more distressed.  
“Squee! Get out of here!” he barks.  
Squee jumps to his feet but it’s already too late. The zombies are behind him and the Doughboys are charging him.  
Krik and Dillon try to grab him. Squee stumbles forward, covering his head, and narrowly dodges their hands. Then he falls to the floor, just barely dodging the Doughboys. He scrambles to his feet, runs down the hall, and presses his back to the wall.  
The Doughboys stand up and glare at him. They charge him and jump, their arms pulled back. Squee stiffens immediately but doesn’t move. He holds his breath and steels his nerves. When they’re only inches away, he ducks, and they smash through the wall completely.  
Meanwhile, not very far away, Johnny, Devi, and Tenna race through the halls as they look around for Squee. They look in every room they run by, but they’re all empty. Along the way, Johnny explains to them how Squee has the same imagination as him.  
“So, wait. You and Squee both have endless imaginations?” Devi asks.  
“That’s what I got from what the Doughboys told me,” Johnny replies.  
“And because of that, the Nightmare wants to keep you both as slaves,” Tenna concludes.  
“Right. We’d be like endless snacks,” he nods.  
“What does one have to do to have endless imagination?” Devi asks.  
“Not sure. We’re probably born with it,” he shrugs.  
“That’s probably why he’s had Shmee for such a long time,” Tenna muses, “Shmee is part of the Daydream, right? They must want to protect him.”  
“Why didn’t the Daydream protect you?” Devi asks.  
“I think they might have tried,” Johnny mutters, “I think Nailbunny might’ve been part of the Daydream. But he failed.”  
“Why?” Tenna asks.  
“Because,” he sighs, “he had to deal with the Doughboys.”  
They’re silent for a few seconds.  
“We’ve gotta find Squee,” Devi grunts.  
They immediately speed up.  
They run silently for a few minutes, completely focusing on the search. Suddenly, Johnny slides to an abrupt stop. Devi and Tenna nearly run into him.  
“What’s wrong?” Devi asks.  
“I hear something,” he replies.  
“What?” Tenna asks.  
“I’m… not sure,” he mutters, “it kind of sounds like… fighting but… softer…?”  
“Huh?” Devi grunts.  
“I don’t know how to explain it,” Johnny snaps, “just stay quiet.”  
They walk forward cautiously, Johnny straining his ears to try and figure out where the noise is coming from. It sounds close but he can’t locate it.  
Suddenly a section of the right wall a few feet ahead of them blows apart. Mr. Fuck and Psycho Doughboy fly through the rubble and slam into the left wall. Simultaneously Squee falls to the floor. He sits up, groaning and rubbing his head. He hasn’t noticed Johnny, Devi, or Tenna yet.  
“Got you now, fag-lit!” Krik shouts as he jumps through the busted wall. He lifts his foot and attempts to stomp on Squee. Squee dodges quickly, rolling across the floor. He pushes off on his hands and jumps to his feet, his back to Johnny, Devi, and Tenna.  
Dillon joins Krik and they try to punch Squee. He dodges quickly, moving to the right and left. Before they have another chance to attack, Shmee front flips through the hole, spins in the air, and kicks them both in their chins. Then he lands on Squee’s head. That’s when he notices, Squee is panting really hard.  
“Shit,” Shmee grunts, “you’re starting to suffer the side effects of having your imagination siphoned.”  
“I’m fine, Shmee,” Squee argues, “it’s nothing, really.”  
“Please. We both know you have way more stamina than this,” he scoffs.  
He looks behind them and smirks. “Well, at least we’re not alone.”  
“What?” Squee questions and looks back. “Oh.”  
Johnny, Devi, and Tenna stare at him with surprise and bewilderment. Squee starts to turn around, to face them, when Dillon jumps to his feet and swings his fist at him. Squee senses it immediately. Without turning around, he jumps back and barely dodges his fist. Johnny catches it and Dillon blanches.  
With one quick jerk, he twists Dillon’s completely around and throws him to the floor.  
Meanwhile, mid-dodge, Squee stumbles back and nearly falls over, but catches himself on the wall.  
“See? You’re body’s not working right,” Shmee scolds, “I’ve gotta finish this quickly.”  
“You shouldn’t… push yourself…” Squee pants. It’s getting harder for him to breathe.  
“Take your own fucking advice!” he barks.  
Squee slides down the wall and sits on the floor. “Jeez. No… wonder Johnny was always so… depressed… if he had to feel like this… all the time.”  
Johnny smiles weakly at him as he takes out his knives.  
“You don’t mind if I join in, do you, Shmee?” he asks.  
“I suppose not,” Shmee sighs.  
“Good,” he snarls. He picks up Dillon by his hair and slices clean through his forehead. He lets the even-more-lifeless body drop to the floor before tossing the severed head cap across the hall.  
Krik is next. He tries to run away but Johnny quickly grabs him by the back of his shirt, slams him to the wall, and drives his knife through his head. He twists it around a bit before letting him fall. Then he turns to face the Doughboys. Both are on their feet and look very amused.  
“You look good, Nny,” Eff smirks.  
“We missed you, you know,” D-boy mutters.  
“Fuck off,” Johnny scoffs.  
“But it’s true,” Eff insists, “despite everything you were always a good friend.”  
“Yeah,” D-boy agrees, “so how about for old time’s sake, you surrender yourself and the boy.”  
“I told you before,” Johnny snarls, “I will not allow the Nightmare to lay even one slimy, little appendage on him.”  
The Doughboys suddenly look incredibly angry. But Johnny is unfazed.  
“You can’t beat us!” Eff barks.  
“You’re nothing! You’re all nothing but weak, fucking humans!” D-boy snaps.  
“And we’ll win!” they conclude simultaneously.  
They race at Johnny. He lifts his knives, ready for them. But then they suddenly fly past him. His breath catches when he realizes where they’re going. He spins around and races after them.  
Squee’s eyes widen. He tries to lift himself up but his legs won’t cooperate. Shmee snarls and jumps off his head. He swings his legs and aims to kick the Doughboys. But they dodge and slam their fists into his chin. He cries out in pain and lands hard on the floor.  
Squee doesn’t have time to worry about his bear. When he looks back at the Doughboys, he sees that Eff’s left arm and D-boy’s right arm have suddenly changed into a nest of black, swirling tentacles. They’re appendages of the Nightmare!  
He freezes up with fear at the sight of the appendages. He’s so scared, he can’t even squeal.  
The Doughboys lash the black tentacles at him. But just before they can connect, Johnny jumps forward and lands on them, driving his knives through their heads.  
The tendrils disappear and Squee sighs with relief.  
The Doughboys gag as their Styrofoam makeshift skulls start tearing down the middle. Johnny pulls his knives out and picks them up by their heads. They stare at him with tired eyes.  
“I told you,” he sighs, “not one appendage.”  
He squeezes his fists and their heads shatter. They lifeless bodies drop to the floor but before they can even touch it, they disappear into black smoke that immediately dissipates.  
“You did it,” Devi breathes, “you won.”  
“He did,” Shmee grunts, “well done.”  
“Shmee!” Squee exclaims. He scrambles across his floor, his legs still refusing to work, and picks up his unmoving bear.  
“I’m fine,” Shmee smiles, “thank you for letting me siphon your imagination. It felt very… warm. When I leave this plane, the imagination I’ve been borrowing to remain here will be returned to you. And the imagination I siphoned to enter in the first place will come back over time. Probably after a couple seconds. You do have amazing imagination after all.”  
Squee smiles at him. Slowly he notices his stamina coming back. He places Shmee on his head and stands up on shaky legs. After a couple seconds, he can stand up straight with no problem. He smiles and sighs with relief.  
“So,” Tenna muses, “what exactly happened?”  
Squee smiles at her. “Shmee fought the Doughboys. He was amazing.”  
“They’re powerful,” Shmee mutters.  
“How come he was moving?” Devi asks.  
“He just borrowed my imagination,” he shrugs, “but that’s not important. The Doughboys are gone now, right? So now we only have two minions left.”  
“Revered Meat and Zoli,” Johnny mutters.  
“We can probably finish this quicker if we split up,” Tenna points out.  
“Split up? That’s a horrible idea!” Devi snaps.  
“It’s fine,” Johnny grunts, “you can handle Reverend Meat. He’s not as strong as the Doughboys. I’m going after Zoli.”  
He looks at Squee very sternly. “You go with the girls. We’ll all meet up later.”  
With that he races down the hall, almost like he knows exactly where he’s going.  
“He can’t beat Lady Zoli,” Dillon scoffs as he puts the top of his head back on. “She’s way too strong.”  
“Shut up,” Tenna grunts and kicks him in the gut. He groans and falls to the floor.  
“Fine. We’ll go after Reverend Meat,” Devi sighs.  
Squee looks at her questionably. She smiles and nods down the hall, where Johnny disappeared.  
“You go after him. Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid,” she says. He smiles and runs down the hall. The girls stare after him until he disappears around a corner.  
“Now, how do we find Reverend Meat?” Devi asks.  
“We ask these douchebags, obviously,” Tenna replies as she picks up Dillon by the front of his shirt and slams him into the wall. “Where’s Reverend Meat?”  
“I don’t know,” he grunts.  
She knees him hard in the groin. He gasps in pain and doubles over but she holds him up. “Where is Reverend Meat?”  
“We really don’t know,” Krik says as he sits up. “We don’t know our entire way around this building. And the Nightmare minions don’t share information with lackeys like us.”  
“So basically you’re useless,” Devi grunts.  
“Fuck you, babe,” Krik groans.  
“Whatever. We’ll find him on our own,” she concludes and turns around. “Come on, Tenna.”  
The girls run down the hall in the opposite direction of Johnny and Squee, leaving the zombies behind.  
“How are we gonna find him?” Tenna asks.  
“I don’t know. But we must,” Devi replies, “for Johnny and Squee’s sake. And our sake as well. We must defeat these minions.”  
The girls race down the hall, their feet pounding on the floor. They don’t worry about the doors they checked while looking for Squee, since they already know they’re empty. So they run nonstop, completely focused on finding their target.  
They slide to a stop when they come into a new hall and look around. This hall has fewer doors than the others. They start running again as they quickly check each room.  
“Meat! Where are you?” Tenna shouts.  
They stay quiet and listen for a response. When they don’t hear one, Devi gets angry.  
“Reverend Meat! Come out!” Devi snaps.  
A door farther down the hall swings open. The girls freeze as they stare at it for second before cautiously walking up to it. They peek into the room and see Reverend Meat sitting on a table. He looks at them and smiles politely.  
“Welcome, ladies,” he purrs, “please, come in.”  
Devi and Tenna slowly enter the room. As soon as they’re in, the door slams closed behind them. They glare at Reverend Meat.  
“I must say, I’m surprised that the Doughboys were taken out,” he comments, “but I guess I shouldn’t be. After all, Johnny was the one who did it.”  
“Right. And we’ll take you out too,” Tenna growls.  
“You know, the Doughboys liked to believe they were the strongest minions,” he explains, “but really they just had the most skills all-around. They possessed equal amounts of speed and strength. Sickness had incredible speed. Me? I have incredible strength.”  
He lifts his fist and slams it into the table, smashing it to splinters. The girls wince as he falls harmlessly to the floor.  
“Now who’s taking out who?”  
The girls flinch and back away. Reverend Meat smiles as he stands up. He lifts his right arm and it unthreads like an old sweater. Black tendrils explode from his shoulder, just like the Doughboys.  
“What is that?” Devi asks.  
“All Nightmare minions are able to replace their limbs with some of its,” Reverend Meat explains, “Sickness never got a chance to reveal it. She was always too soft.”  
He swings the tendrils at them. They scream and dive out of the way. Meat focuses completely on Devi and lashes out at her. She runs away, racing around the room, but the tentacles chase her relentlessly. Tenna sees this and runs to help her, but she’s too late. A tentacle manages to wrap around Devi’s ankle. She cries out as she falls to the floor. The tentacles wrap around her body completely and lift her into the air, slamming her into the wall.  
“You’re mine now, little girl,” Reverend Meat purrs, “and your imagination is going straight to the Lord Nightmare.”  
Devi tries to squirm around but she can barely budge. She freezes when she feels… it. That same feeling she had when she battled Sickness. That feeling of exhaustion and uselessness.  
Her imagination is being stolen.  
“Stop,” she whimpers.  
“Hm? What was that?” Reverend Meat asks.  
“Stop,” she says again, a little quieter this time.  
“I’m afraid not,” he says, “it’ll all be over soon. Don’t worry.”  
Tenna watches in horror as Devi’s imagination is slowly siphoned. She can practically see Devi changing right before her eyes, and it’s not a good change.  
I have to do something.  
Without any warning, Tenna races to Reverend Meat. He spots her at the last second and jumps out of the way as she tries to kick him. But she reacts quickly and punches him in the face. He cries out in pain and flies across the room. He looks up at her with surprise and gasps. The girl’s eyes have changed. They’re narrow and focused, like a predator looking at its prey.  
“You underestimated me,” she growls. Even her voice seems different. “You assumed I was weak. Why? Because I’m a girl? Because I’m human?”  
“Those are both terrible assumptions. Yes, I’m a girl, and yes, I’m a human. But humans are going to be the ones who defeat your precious Nightmare.”  
Reverend Meat is speechless. And that’s never happened before. He just feels so small compared to this girl, like a mouse staring at a cat. He was able to put up with Johnny when he lost his temper, and that’s pretty terrifying. So why does this girl unsettle him so?  
“Ah, I know,” he breathes, “you’re a true warrior.”  
Tenna takes a deep breath and charges forward. But not towards Reverend Meat, instead to his tendrils. She grabs one and rips it in half in a quick, fluid motion. Meat screams in pain as the rest of his tendrils disappear, turning back into his arm. Devi grunts as she hits the floor.  
“Devi, you okay?” Tenna asks.  
“I think so,” she replies.  
“Good. Now stay put,” she demands as she stands protectively in front of her friend and glares at Reverend Meat. He glares back.  
“If you want Devi, you’ll have to go through me,” she growls as she lifts her fists in a fighting position. “I’m your opponent.”


	23. Chapter 22.5

In the state of California, near the border of Mexico, there is a tiny little village that, according to the government, does not exist. This village does not have a hospital or police force or any other form of emergency workers. Which is why crime runs rampant.  
In this village there once lived a drug dealer and a prostitute. The two of them once shared a night together and a couple months later she discovered she was pregnant with his baby. Surprisingly enough they agreed to live together and raise the baby, probably the most responsible act anyone ever committed in that village.  
Nine months later, Tenna T. was born.  
From the moment she was born, Tenna learned how to fight. She learned how to throw a punch and how to shoot a gun, all so she could survive in that terrible village. She was strong for a little girl and could hold her own against any adult. And her parents were always there to care for her the best they could.  
Unfortunately they died in a shoot-out when she was ten years old. After that she was all alone.  
Tenna stayed in that village for another eight years, surviving any way she could. When she turned eighteen she left in search of a better life.  
She travelled around for almost a year, mostly on foot but sometimes she would come across a polite soul who would drive her to a nearby town. Eventually she arrived in Los Angeles, and oh how excited she was. She thought for sure this would be where she starts her new life.  
But she was wrong.  
Tenna had actually arrived in a bad part of the city. But she couldn’t tell the difference because it looked way better than her old village. It didn’t seem bad to her.  
But as she was walking through an alley she was confronted by four men. They were thin but well-built and fairly well dressed. They all smiled disgusting grins filled with lust and Tenna knew straight away what they were after.  
She was sure she could take them. After all she’s taken down men twice their size. But she stopped when she got a look at their eyes. These men, they were different from the people she fought growing up. Back then, everything everyone did was to survive or because they were too deranged to understand. But these men… they were different. They did this for pleasure.  
This thought terrified Tenna.  
She couldn’t move. She’s never been frozen with fear before. She didn’t like it, she felt weak. But she just couldn’t fight back. Not even when they started tearing at her clothes.  
They suddenly stopped when the tip of a blade appeared at the front of one of the men’s throats. He gagged when the blade disappeared through his neck. Blood spurted from his mouth and wound as he collapsed to the ground. Standing behind him was a thin, tall, lanky young man, with a blood coated knife in his gloved hand.  
Before any of the other three men could react, he swung his knife and sliced through another man’s neck. The other two screamed and tried to run away, but the boy was faster. He grabbed one of them by the back of his shirt and stabbed through his neck. Finally he sliced clean through the last man’s neck, cutting off his head.  
Tenna panted as she watched the killer. She was completely speechless. She had seen plenty of deaths and murders in her life, but nothing like this. The way this man killed, it was almost like an art.  
He turned and faced her. She flinched when he started walking towards her. Their eyes met and pure, unadulterated fear washed over her. Because this man did not have the eyes of a human.  
He had the eyes of a beast.  
His face suddenly softened and he sighed. He turned around and reached into his sweater. He pulled something out and made some sort of motion that Tenna couldn’t see. Then he turned back around.  
“You don’t belong here,” he stated.  
She blinked curiously when he handed her a piece of paper with writing on it. It was a crudely drawn map, but legible.  
“Follow those directions to the main part of the city,” he explained, “there you will be able to make some honest money.”  
He scratched his neck awkwardly and sighed. “And if you’re so inclined, you can move onto something better. A few hours away there is another city that does not have a name. But it is known throughout the state as the ‘Nameless City’. It should be easy enough to find.”  
He looked at her with sad eyes and for the first time ever, Tenna felt like she had connected with someone.  
“I think you’d fit in well there,” he said.  
And with that he turned and left the bewildered Tenna. She stayed crouched there in the alley for a few minutes before she stood up and left, following the map through the city.  
Just like the boy said, she managed to make some honest money in the city doing odd jobs for many different people. She learned many things, like how exciting and beautiful the world can be sometimes.  
When she made enough money to easily survive on, she decided to go looking for this ‘Nameless City’ the boy mentioned. She asked around and apparently there were plenty of weird rumors surrounding the place. This only fueled Tenna’s curiosity and she immediately left for it.  
She walked most of the way because anyone who was nice enough to pick her up quickly dropped her off in the middle of nowhere when they found out where she was going. This only made her more excited.  
She arrived in the ‘Nameless City’ in a few days and she knew the second she stepped into the city limits that she belonged here. She wasn’t sure how she knew, she could just feel it.  
She used the money she earned in L.A. to buy a tiny apartment that only had a couch. But she was proud because it was her first ever home. She lived there for a couple days before looking for a steady job.  
She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. She wasn’t even sure what she was good at other than fighting. But she didn’t want to fight anymore. She wanted to do something else, something fun.  
As she was exploring the city she noticed an ad on a bulletin board for a photography class. This interested her. So she decided to take the class. After all she wanted to reinvent herself.  
After her first class, Tenna found she had an affinity for photography. She loved it and apparently it loved her. She was very good. She could make a good photo out of everything.  
When she finished her class she managed to get a photography job for the city’s magazine. Her first steady job. She was so happy.  
From here she moved on fast and strong. With her first paycheck she started renting a nice, big apartment with many different rooms. With her second paycheck she bought many different pieces of furniture. After that she spent her money on whatever she wanted.  
It wasn’t long before she made an actual friend. She was a girl who lived in the same apartment building as her. Her name was Devi and the two of them became fast friends. Tenna liked Devi for her odd personality so they got along well.  
To this day Tenna still lives in that apartment, she’s still friends with Devi, and she’s still a photographer for the city magazine. And it’s all thanks to that boy she met in L.A. She’s not sure who that boy was. But she does hope he’s as happy as she is.  
And it’s been a very long time since she’s had to fight for her life.


	24. Chapter 23

“I’m your opponent,” Tenna growls.  
Reverend Meat is slightly taken aback. He’s never seen a human like this. Sure he’s had to put up with Johnny, who’s pretty much a monster in human skin. But it’s because he knows he’s a monster that Meat isn’t scared. But this girl… she’s pure human, she’s not a monster.  
That’s right. She’s just a human.  
Reverend Meat smirks. He clenches his fist and meets Tenna’s glare head-on.  
“Bring it on,” he snarls.  
Tenna charges. She lifts his leg and brings it down on Meat. He jumps out of the way, lands on his hands, and propels towards Tenna feet first. She quickly dodges and he smashes the floor where she was standing.  
“You’re strong and quick on your feet,” Meat comments, “not bad for a human. But you’ll never beat me. I’m much stronger than you, not to mention our size difference. It’s like an elephant attacking a mouse.”  
“I’ll beat you,” Tenna growls, “I spent my entire life fighting to protect myself. But this is the first time I’ve ever fought for the sake of someone else. And there’s no way I can lose.”  
“How noble,” Meat says drily.  
Tenna snarls and charges him. She lifts her fist and brings it down towards him. He jumps out of the way but she anticipates it. She plants both of her hands on the floor and swings her leg. He can’t dodge in midair so her shin slams right into his face. He gasps in pain as he flies across the room.  
Tenna reacts quickly. She races after him. As soon as he starts to connect with the wall, she swings her fist at him and punches him in the face. He shouts in pain as he falls to the floor. She rubs her hand and glares down at him.  
Tenna lifts her foot and prepares to stomp on the little porcelain statue. She brings her foot down on him but unfortunately doesn’t hear any satisfying crash. Instead it almost feels like something is holding her foot up.  
“Oh shit,” she mutters.  
Reverend Meat grips the bottom of her boot and lifts her off the floor. In one swift movement he throws her across the room. She slides across the floor and slams hard into the wall.  
“Tenna!” Devi exclaims.  
Tenna looks up just as Reverend Meat falls on her fist first. He connects with her back. She shouts in pain as a crack resonates through the room.  
Reverend Meat steps back and glares at her as she coughs saliva onto the floor. He pants as he walks over to her head.  
She swipes at him with her right arm. He easily dodges her and lands on her hand, crushing it. She shouts in pain and glares at him.  
“You hit hard,” he admits, “but it’s still not enough.”  
He sticks out his right arm which quickly unravels into the Nightmare’s tendrils. Tenna’s face grows more and more fearful as they inch towards her.  
“I suppose you’ll make for a good appetizer before the main course.”  
The appendages lash out. But before they have a chance to attack, something grabs onto Reverend Meat and stops him.  
Devi squeezes his little head tightly and throws him across the room. He’s so surprised that the tendrils change back into his regular arm before he smacks into the wall.  
Devi rests on her knees and helps Tenna sit up. “Are you okay?” she asks.  
“Yeah,” Tenna grunts as she rubs her lower back.  
The girls stand up and glare at the Bub’s Burger Boy as he stumbles to his feet. They march over to him and, before he can even comprehend what’s happening, Tenna grabs him by his head and holds him against the wall. He pants as he stares at the girls, feeling like an insignificant pest under their harsh glares.  
“Maybe you are a mouse and we’re elephants,” Devi growls, “but even a mouse can get crushed in a stampede.”  
The girls pull their fists back and, without a moment of hesitation, smash them through Meat’s head. They wince as porcelain shards stab into their hands, but the satisfaction overshadows the pain as they watch Reverend Meat’s body disappear into black smoke.  
The girls pant as they stare at the wall. The silence is quickly broken when Tenna starts giggling.  
“That was awesome,” she chimes. Devi smiles exhaustedly at her as they both sit on the floor.  
“I’ll de-shard your hand if you’ll de-shard mine,” Devi suggests. Tenna nods and they hold each other’s hands as they beginning removing the porcelain shards.  
“Do you think- ow- Johnny’s found- ow- Zoli yet?” Devi asks.  
“Ouch. Probably,” Tenna replies, “he seemed to- ow- have an idea of where he was going when he- ouch- ran off.”  
“I’m worried- ow,” Devi says, “Reverend Meat- ouch- said Zoli was created for the sole purpose of being Johnny’s- ow- enemy. What if he can’t beat her?”  
“You really think he’ll just lose? Just like- ouch- that?” Tenna asks.  
“Well… I don’t think he’ll- ow- go down easily,” she replies, “but Zoli is supposed to be the strongest- ouch- Nightmare minion right? What if he- ow- really can’t beat her?”  
“Then- ow- we better go find him so we can- ouch- help.”  
Devi smiles. “Right.”  
Once they finished removing all the porcelain shards, they wipe the blood off on their shirts and race out of the room.  
Meanwhile on the other side of the castle, Squee jogs effortlessly through the halls in Johnny’s general direction, Shmee riding along on his head.  
“So, Shmee, what did you mean when you said ‘planes of existence before?” Squee asks, “what did any of that mean?”  
“Alright. In this dimension, there are many, many different planes of existence,” Shmee explains, “yours is the main plane, where all living things exist and perceive one another. I exist on a plane of my own where only you and creatures with a strong sixth sense can perceive me.”  
“Sixth sense?” Squee questions.  
“Yes. As you know there are five senses- sight, sound, taste, smell, touch. In general most creatures can only use their senses in their plane of existence. But creatures with the sixth sense can perceive things in other planes. How much they can perceive depends on how strong their sixth sense is. For example, animals have stronger sixth senses than most humans, so many animals can perceive me completely.”  
“So then things like ghosts and monsters exist on other planes?” Squee asks.  
“Right,” Shmee nods.  
“And since I seem to see ghosts and whatnot… does that mean I have a strong sixth sense?”  
“You do,” he replies, “your sixth sense is stronger than most humans, in fact. Whether or not that’s a good thing is debateable.”  
“What about Johnny?”  
“Johnny is something of a special case. His sixth sense seems to fluctuate. For example when we first met he could hear what I say. But now he seems to barely see me move.”  
“Maybe sixth sense is connected to imagination,” Squee suggests.  
“That would make sense,” Shmee agrees, “imagination is often connected to open-mindedness. And some people who are open-minded believe in things like ghosts… and talking teddy bears.”  
“Well, yes. But not only that,” Squee says, “Johnny’s imagination isn’t as strong as it used to be. So maybe the weaker it got, the weaker his sixth sense got.”  
“Perhaps,” the bear nods, “the Nightmare has been slowly siphoning Johnny’s immense imagination for years. He’s probably too exhausted to even use it, so it’s gotten weaker.”  
“Maybe if we defeat the Nightmare, his imagination will get stronger again,” Squee mutters, “I would really like to see his drawings.”  
“You be careful, Squee,” Shmee warns.  
“What do you mean?” he asks nervously.  
“Your emotional attachment for Johnny has been growing and that can be dangerous,” Shmee scolds, “Johnny is a dangerous man who leads a dangerous life. He could end up hurting you, unintentionally or otherwise.”  
“Unintentionally?” Squee questions.  
“You remember back when you were living in the mental institution, when you finally realized your parents had actually abandoned you?” Shmee asks, “you were depressed for weeks. You were an emotionless zombie without the use of those meds.”  
Squee stops running and slows to a light walk as he remembers those days. They seem so hazy now, like he was watching his life go by through a screen.  
“Your parents were terrible people, and you knew that. Even so you still cared for them. You’re too soft, Squee. And while that’s not necessarily a bad thing for others, it can be for you.”  
“You’re saying caring for Johnny could be bad because I could lose him too,” Squee mutters.  
“I don’t like it when you’re depressed, Squee,” Shmee admits, “despite everything that’s happened in your life, depression doesn’t suit you.”  
“I can’t help who I care for, Shmee,” Squee points out, “it’s not like I wanted to feel anything for Johnny. It just happened. Besides, I don’t think I’ll lose him as easily as I lost my parents. I don’t believe he’d abandon me like that.”  
“No, I don’t believe he’d abandon you either,” Shmee agrees, “but there are other ways you can… lose him.”  
Squee stops abruptly as the weight of Shmee’s words settle in his chest. He feels fear and worry swell up in his throat, but he swallows it down quickly and begins racing down the hall at top speed. His hand runs down to the bulge in his pants pocket and he squeezes it.  
“I won’t let that happen.”


	25. Chapter 24

Johnny runs steadily through the halls of the mysterious building. He doesn’t really know where he’s going, but just like when he was looking for Devi and Tenna or Squee he knows he’s going in the right direction. It’s instinct.  
He stops abruptly when he comes to a fork in the road. He can either keep going straight or turn left. Both hallways are empty and dim. Neither offers any clues to his dilemma.  
He rubs his chin, deep in thought. If he makes the wrong choice and is forced to go back, he’ll waste a lot of time. He has to choose carefully.  
He starts to turn left, hesitantly at first. Then he immediately turns around and continues going straight.  
He runs along for a few uninterrupted minutes. His mind is surprisingly blank during that time. No voices, no psychotic thoughts. He’s completely focused on the task at hand. This surprises Johnny. He’s never felt more concentration than in this moment. What’s causing this? Is it just because he’s going up against Zoli? Against the Nightmare? No, that’s not quite right. It’s something else.  
He notices figures up ahead. He slows to a stop as they come into view. It’s Edgar, Jimmy, Krik, and Dillon. They’ve blocked the hallway.  
Johnny sighs, exasperated. “Let me pass.”  
“No way. We will not allow you to harm our Lady Zoli,” Krik declares defiantly.  
“So then Zoli is this way,” Johnny states.  
“Nuh-no! She’s the other way!” Dillon exclaims, “you’re going the complete wrong way. Ha, you’re-you’re such an idiot.”  
“You’re the only idiot here,” Edgar groans.  
“Forget this! I’m taking him out!” Jimmy announces as he produces a large knife. “We’ll attack together. He can’t beat all of us.”  
Johnny groans exhaustedly as he pulls his knives out of his back pockets. He grips them loosely and charges forward. Before the zombies can even comprehend what’s happening, he slices open Dillon’s chest, stabs Krik’s neck, and cuts off Jimmy’s head. The three of the fall to the floor, lifeless again.  
Johnny stops and looks at Edgar. Edgar flinches under his glare. In one quick movement, Johnny slices through his face. He falls to the floor with his comrades.  
“Just to be safe,” Johnny grunts before continuing his race.  
He grips his knives as he runs. He’s actually glad he ran into those idiots. They got his adrenaline pumping, even though they were barely a morning work-out.  
He sees the hallway ends with a doorway that leads into a brightly lit room. He gradually slows to a stop until he’s standing in it. He squeezes his knives at the sight before him  
The room is fairly large and empty, with a stone floor, walls, and ceiling. Hanging from the ceiling are large light fixtures that make the room considerably bright. But Johnny is not interested in any of that. He’s fixated on the person standing on the other side of the room.  
Zoli looks about the same as when they first met: same clothes, same hair, same insufferable smirk. The only difference is now she’s got a large scythe sitting on her shoulder. The blade is so big and sharp it could slice through Johnny like butter. But he’s not the least bit intimidated.  
“Nny,” she sings, “I’m so glad you could make it. I was starting to get worried.”  
“You knew I was coming,” Johnny half-states, half-asks.  
“Of course,” she replies, “we are connected through fate. We are destined to battle.”  
“I don’t believe in shit like fate,” he grunts.  
“Nevertheless,” she shrugs, “I was created for the sole purpose of fighting you, of breaking you, of making you a slave. So, whether you choose to believe it or not, our battle was predetermined.”  
“So be it. Either way, I’m taking you out,” he declares as he points the blade of his knife at her.  
“You really are such a sweet talker. It’s a miracle some girl hasn’t stolen you away yet,” she sighs as she lifts her scythe off her shoulder. The blade falls and smashes through the stone floor, with no help from its wielder.  
Zoli smirks, her fangs sparkling from the bright lights as she effortlessly picks up her weapon. She charges, her scythe held above her head. Johnny meets her halfway. They both swing.  
Johnny parries Zoli’s scythe with his knives, the blades connecting in a clash of sparks. Her scythe is much heavier than his knives, but Johnny stands strong, not even quivering from the weight. They stay trapped in the parry for a few seconds before Johnny gets antsy.  
He slides his foot across the stone floor, slowly and carefully repositioning himself until it’s behind Zoli’s ankle. Then he kicks, aiming to trip her. She sees through his plan and easily jumps over his leg, breaking the parry. Johnny reacts quickly and swings his knives at her. She falls back to dodge, but he does manage to place a couple scratches on her chest. However, they’re nowhere near satisfying.  
Zoli grins as she stumbles back and swings her scythe. Johnny is forced to jump back to avoid the blade. But Zoli is relentless. Once she has gained her footing, she attacks again.  
She swings at him, nearly cutting open his chest. He has to fall to the floor to dodge. She lifts her scythe above her head and brings it down towards him. He quickly rolls out of the way as the blade embeds itself into the stone. She starts dragging the blade through the floor, right behind Johnny. He rolls onto his stomach and pushes up with his hands, quickly sitting up as Zoli swings the scythe up. The blade whizzes past his nose. She quickly repositions the scythe and swings it toward Johnny’s head. He falls back, narrowly dodging the blade as he lies down on the floor.  
“You’re very flexible and quick,” Zoli comments as she leans against her scythe. Johnny just glares at her in reply as he rolls over onto his stomach and stands up.  
This is tough. She’s got a much farther range than I do with that scythe. I can’t even get a chance to attack. But I can’t keep dodging. But if she hits me even once with that thing, I’m done for.  
I have to ruin it. Maybe snap the handle in half or something. Then I might have a chance.  
As soon as Johnny is steady on his feet, Zoli attacks again, swinging her scythe at him. He is forced to retreat to avoid the wide reach of the large blade. She swings tirelessly at him and he barely manages to dodge by stepping back, out of reach. This continues until he is pressed flush against the wall.  
Zoli smirks victoriously and swings her scythe. Johnny bends his knees forward and falls to the floor in a sort of crouched position. The blade connects with the wall above his head and slides easily through it.  
Johnny’s eyes widen. He drops his knife as his left hand shoots up and grips the handle, stopping the scythe in its tracks. Then he swings his other knife at the handle. He expects to chop cleanly through it, like wood. But he soon realizes it’s not wood; it’s metal painted brown! As a result his blade only goes about halfway through before it gets stuck.  
“Shit,” he grunts.  
Zoli growls and lifts her left foot, aiming to kick Johnny in the face. He quickly lets go of his knife and blocks her boot with his forearm. Before she has a chance to react, Johnny drops his ass to the floor and hooks his right foot behind her right ankle, successfully tripping her. She lets go of the scythe as she falls to the floor.  
Johnny gets straight to business. He jumps to his feet and firmly grips the scythe handle and his knife. He wiggles it around, freeing the blade from the metal, before mercilessly hacking through it, like he would a victim’s arm. It only takes a couple seconds before he’s successfully chopped through the scythe. The bottom end of the handle falls to the floor while the bladed end stays embedded in the wall.  
Zoli snarls and rolls to her feet. Now it’s Nny’s turn for relentlessly slicing.  
He attacks quickly and mercilessly. Because of the light weight of his knives he can strike quicker than Zoli’s scythe; and because of his skill, he can cause just as much damage.  
But Zoli is quick too. She manages to dodge every fatal attack so Johnny only manages to leave her with scratches and cuts. And that’s not satisfying at all.  
This could go on for ages until one of them collapses from exhaustion. Unfortunately Zoli has some tricks up her sleeve.  
Mid-dodge, she reaches into her jacket and produces a long, slim knife. She swings it so fast that it’s barely a blur. Johnny catches on and tries to fall back to dodge, but he’s too slow and Zoli slices open his chest.  
Johnny stumbles back with surprise. He glares at Zoli as he prepares to attack again but suddenly stops. Sharp, stinging pain explodes from his chest and reverberates throughout his whole body. He’s never felt pain this intense before. He can’t help but grip his chest and freeze in place. He bites his tongue to keep from crying out. He won’t give Zoli that satisfaction.  
“It hurts, doesn’t it?” Zoli asks, the slightest bit of pity in her voice. “I told you before I was created for the sole purpose of breaking you. And that includes all of my weapons.”  
“Every weapon I possess was created by Lord Nightmare,” she explains, “and when they hurt you, they cause double the amount of pain you would normally feel from the same injury. For example, minor scratches would cause the same amount of pain as major injuries caused by any normal weapon, which is why you don’t feel them since you’re used to that pain. But major injuries will cause crippling pain.”  
“Now do you think you can beat me?”  
Johnny pants as he glares at her. “I will beat you. Not just for my sake, but for theirs as well.”  
“Theirs?” Zoli questions. “Oh, you mean Devi, Tenna, and Squee, don’t you? Why would you fight for them? What are they to you?”  
“I… don’t know,” Johnny admits, “but if you’re the only barrier standing between us and our freedom away from the Nightmare, then I will break that barrier down.”  
“How poetic,” she comments drily.  
Johnny lets go of his chest, shakes the blood off his hand, and grabs his knives. Zoli smirks as she reaches into her jacket and pulls out another slim knife, now brandishing two.  
Johnny steps forward and that’s when he notices how heavy his body feels. His legs are trembling, his breathing is ragged, and he just feels all around exhausted. This wound is affecting him way worse than any injury ever has. But he can’t quit. He won’t quit, not now. He must defeat Zoli.  
Zoli strikes first. She charges Johnny and swings her knives with amazing speed. All Johnny can do is dodge, but his movements are sloppy. He stumbles back as he tries to get away but Zoli stays on him and she strikes with a purpose.  
She slices his left forearm and the right side of his stomach. She cuts open his right shoulder and the left side of his chest. She cuts his torso and arms to ribbons. He can’t even fight back or avoid it. All he can do is stumble backwards and stop himself from crying out.  
Zoli finally stops when he’s pressed against a wall. Johnny slides to the floor and sits there, panting in a growing puddle of his own blood.  
“Poor Nny,” she sighs, “you may have a higher threshold of pain than almost any human, but you are still human and your body still reacts the same way.”  
Johnny is too exhausted to reply; he’s almost too exhausted to glare at her. He just stares at her with tired eyes.  
“Are you enjoying this?” Zoli asks, “after all, you’ve spent many an hour causing yourself pain. That’s why your body looks like this, right?”  
She grips the front of his shirt and he can’t even wince in disgust. She smirks as she tears away the already ruined shirt until Johnny is in nothing but his jeans. She gasps and steps back with surprise.  
“Oh, wow,” she breathes, “I was told that your body was covered in scars, but I had no idea it was to this degree.”  
She stares at Johnny’s chest with awe, her eyes mapping out every single scar. There are so many caused by so many different injuries. And they were all self-harmed.  
Zoli grins brightly. “You truly are the epitome of self-abuse.”  
Johnny can’t reply. He just pants and stares at the floor as Zoli reaches for him.


	26. Chapter 25

Squee races through the halls at top speed. He slows down a little when he sees another hallway branching off to the left.  
“Which way, Shmee?” he asks.  
“Keep going straight,” Shmee replies.  
Squee immediately speeds up and continues down the hall. He’s not sure how much time is passing, but he hopes he’ll find Johnny before something bad happens. He has to be quick.  
He slides to an abrupt stop at the sight of Edgar, Jimmy, Krik, and Dillon. They look at him with surprise before Jimmy, Krik, and Dillon smirk maliciously.  
“Look, it’s the fag-lit!” Dillon laughs.  
“Where do you think you’re going, runt?” Jimmy asks.  
“Please move,” Squee requests.  
“Don’t tell me you wanna help Johnny!” Krik scoffs, “what use will you be?”  
“Guys, just grab him before he gets away again,” Edgar scolds.  
“Fine, fine,” Jimmy sighs and they start advancing.  
“Do you want me to deal with them?” Shmee asks.  
“No, it’s fine. We can’t afford to waste too much time here,” Squee replies.  
Squee steps forward as the zombies start to reach for him. He ducks under Krik’s arm, slides past Dillon, and steps around Jimmy with incredible, almost inhuman speed. They don’t even realize they missed him until they grab onto air.  
Edgar blinks with surprise as he watches Squee run by. He makes no attempt to grab him. Just watches silently.  
“I hate that fucking kid,” Krik groans.  
Squee races on. He doesn’t bother to look back and see if he’s being chased, he knows he’s not. And even if he was he could easily outrun them.  
“We’re getting close,” Shmee warns. Squee nods in agreement when he sees a brightly lit doorway up ahead.  
He comes to a quick stop and grabs onto the doorframe for support as he enters the room. He looks up and gasps, his heart nearly stopping in his chest at the sight before him.  
Zoli is standing in the middle of the room, holding Johnny up by his throat. Johnny is shirtless, his arms hanging uselessly by his sides. Blood is slowly dripping from fresh wounds that are spread throughout his upper body. His horribly scarred upper body. The new injuries are nothing compared to the various scars that litter Johnny’s pale flesh.  
Zoli silently admires the scars from past burns, gashes, and cuts until she notices a horrified Squee standing in the doorway.  
“Oh, look, Nny,” she sings, “we have a visitor.”  
She tosses Johnny to floor. He lands on his stomach and remains still for a few seconds, almost like he’s unconscious or worse.  
He starts stirring as he struggles to turn his head. He looks at Squee with tired eyes, eyes that are so unlike him.  
“Fuck, Squee,” he sighs, “why can’t you just… listen to me?”  
“Johnny!” Squee exclaims. He rushes in and falls to his knees next to the bleeding Johnny.  
“I really wish you didn’t… didn’t come,” Johnny groans.  
“You’re really hurt,” Squee whimpers.  
“I’m fine,” Johnny grunts.  
Squee covers his mouth and takes a few deep breaths. He feels like he could burst into tears but he’s doing his best to hold them back.  
Johnny watches him quietly. He growls and slams his hand onto the floor. “I’m… fine,” he insists as he pushes himself up.  
A wound on his stomach shudders. He gags as he starts coughing up blood. He collapses back on the floor, groaning and curling in on himself.  
“He is not fine,” Shmee states.  
Fresh tears prick Squee’s eyes as he stares at Johnny’ writhing form. He glances up when Zoli starts giggling.  
“Oh, poor Nny,” she snickers, “he must feel so weak and pathetic. He’s in so much pain in front of the boy he’s sworn to protect. Can’t really protect him now, can you?”  
Johnny glares at her. He plants his hand on the floor and tries to pick himself up. But his arm gives out underneath him. He collapses into a bleeding, panting heap.  
Squee’s hand inches to his pocket. He squeezes the bulge he feels there.  
“What are you thinking, Squee?” Shmee asks.  
Squee doesn’t reply as he slowly sticks his fingers into his pocket. He grabs the item and hesitantly pulls it out.  
Johnny hears the rustling behind him. He slowly turns his head and looks up at Squee. He sees him staring at something in his hand.  
“Squee, are you sure about this?” Shmee asks.  
Squee rolls the black gem around in his palm. Johnny catches a glimpse of it between the boy’s fingers. He rolls over onto his back with great difficulty and looks at Squee seriously.  
“What do you think you’re doing?” he asks.  
Squee looks at him with surprise. He quickly looks away as he grips the gem.  
“This… could help us win,” he states.  
“I know what that is,” Johnny growls, “I heard you two talking about it. If you use it, you’ll have to join Hell’s army, right?”  
“But I’ll gain enough power to defeat Zoli,” Squee points out. He swallows hard as he slowly lifts the gem up to his chest.  
Johnny’s hand lashes out and grips Squee’s fist.  
“You’d earn your freedom from the Nightmare, only to lose it to Satan? How exactly is that a fair trade?” Johnny scolds.  
“But…” Squee starts shaking as his eyes pool with fresh tears. “But I really don’t want you die, Nny.”  
Squee’s tears fall down his cheeks and land on Johnny’s face. His eyebrows crease with confusion as he watches Squee sob quietly.  
What is this, Nailbunny? This… feeling exploding in my chest. It’s warm and comforting. It’s something I’ve never felt before.  
Johnny lifts himself so he’s sitting up. He opens Squee’s little fist and removes the gem.  
Is this how it feels when somebody… cares for you?  
He plants his right hand on the back of Squee’s head and pulls him in. He hugs him tightly to his chest with one hand while his other hand crushes the gem. He opens his fist and little black shards fall to the floor.  
Is this how it feels to care for someone? What do you think, Nailbunny?  
Johnny pushes Squee away and tilts his head back so they’re looking right into each other’s eye.  
“Don’t worry. I’ll win this. I promise,” he says gently. Squee just stares up at him, his big, brown eyes rimmed with tears.  
Johnny stands up with absolutely no problem. He stretches for a second and walks across the room to where he dropped his knives. He wipes his bloody hands off on his jeans and picks them up. He faces Zoli and points at her with his blade.  
“Come on then, you psycho demon bitch,” he smirks, “it’s time for round two.”  
She blinks with surprise then smiles. “Caught your second wind, did you? Alright then. Maybe you’ll get lucky this time.”  
“I make my own luck,” Johnny states.  
“So be it,” she shrugs.  
She grips her long, slim knives and they glare at each. Squee hugs Shmee to his chest and watches the pair with wide eyes.  
“You can practically feel the bloodlust and hatred in the air,” Shmee says, “this fight is gonna get nasty.”  
“Nny will win,” Squee states, “I know it.”  
Johnny and Zoli glare at each other, their knives glittering from the bright lights and their eyes practically leaking with malice.  
The suspense crackles in the air like electricity. They step forward, and the battle begins like a lightning strike.


	27. Chapter 26

Devi and Tenna pant heavily as they stop running when they reach an intersection in the hallway. They can either go straight or turn left. They look in both directions as they try to decide.  
“Which way do you think?” Devi asks.  
“Um,” Tenna muses.  
“Keep in mind if we go the wrong way and have to double back, we’ll waste a lot of time,” she points out.  
“Yeah,” Tenna nods, “let’s go left.”  
They turn down the left hallway and race towards a destination. Meanwhile, at the end of the other hallway, a fierce battle is being fought between Zoli and Johnny.  
Their blades constantly clash, sending sparks flying in all directions. At first glance it looks like Zoli has the upper hand since Johnny is injured and bleeding. But he strikes with such ferocity that his injuries aren’t even a variable. They seem equal in skill and strength.  
“This fight could go on forever,” Shmee mutters, “we should do something. I could fight too.”  
“No,” Squee states, “this isn’t our battle to fight.”  
“…right,” Shmee nods.  
Johnny growls as his blades collide with Zoli’s for the umpteenth time. This is getting old fast. She doesn’t have the same range as her scythe, but with those knives our skills seem pretty much equal. If I want to beat her, I may have to get a bit… creative.  
He starts to swipe at her chest with his right knife. She tries to block but Johnny suddenly angles his arm so instead of their blades clashing, her knife jabs into his wrist. He takes advantage of this and swings his left knife at her left side, her unprotected side. Zoli lets go of the knife and tries to jump back to dodge, but she’s too slow and he successfully leaves a deep cut on her left shoulder. Dark red blood sprays from the wound.  
She recoils in pain and looks at Johnny with surprise. He grunts in pain as he tears her knife out of his wrist and tosses it across the room.  
“That-that could have stabbed through a major artery,” she says with disbelief, “you should be in crippling pain right now.”  
“Yeah, how odd,” Johnny muses. He lifts his knives and smirks at her. “You’re welcome to try again.”  
Zoli growls, “don’t get cocky.”  
She drops her other knife and takes a large machete out of her jacket. She charges him and swings. Johnny sort of sways to the right to avoid a fatal hit and instead allows her to cut his left arm. Once she’s close enough, he swings his left knife and stabs her in the gut. She gasps in pain and stumbles back.  
Johnny smirks. He lifts both of his knives and begins slicing her, quickly and mercilessly. The cuts aren’t fatal but they sting like hell. Zoli isn’t able to fight back. She drops her machete and stumbles back by the force of each attack. Johnny follows her, his grin growing as Zoli’s discoloured blood sprays in every direction. He finally stops when she’s backed up against a wall. Then he places one blade against her throat and leans in so their faces are only inches apart.  
“Game over.”  
Meanwhile Devi and Tenna race angrily back to the intersection. They quickly turn left, down the hallway leading to Johnny and the others.  
“There weren’t even any doors that way!” Devi barks, “what was the point of it?”  
“I should’ve known that was the wrong way,” Tenna sighs, “my instincts must be rusty.”  
“It doesn’t matter. At least now we know this must be the right way,” Devi says.  
“You’re right. Look, goons,” Tenna smirks as Edgar, Jimmy, Krik, and Dillon come into view.  
“Hey, look! There’s the rest of the group,” Dillon exclaims.  
“We can’t let a couple of chicks get past us,” Jimmy growls.  
Devi snarls. She jumps into the air and high kicks Jimmy right in his chin, sending him flying a few feet down the hall. She lands in a crouch and immediately continues running, stepping on his crotch along the way.  
Tenna smiles cheerfully as she runs by the other zombies. “See you, guys.”  
Edgar, Krik, and Dillon watch with slack jaws as the girls race down the hall, while Jimmy groans in pain on the floor.  
Back in the room, Zoli scoffs at Johnny. “Game over? Not for me. I won’t lose.”  
Her right hand trails up to her neck, where she grips the upside down cross on her choker. “I can’t lose.”  
Johnny doesn’t notice her left hand disappear into her jacket. He does however recognize that faint, metallic click.  
Devi and Tenna smile with relief when they see a doorway ahead and begin to slow down. Squee’s eyes widen with fear as Zoli pulls a certain metal weapon out of her jacket. Johnny tries to step back, to escape, but he’s too slow.  
Devi and Tenna appear in the doorway. Shmee suddenly jumps up to Squee’s head and covers his eyes. Zoli points a handgun at Johnny’s forehead.  
She pulls the trigger.  
Everything seems to move in slow motion. Squee’s hands shoot up to cover his ears as the sound of the gunshot bounces off the walls. Blood sprays out of the hole in Johnny’s forehead as his body plummets to the ground, his knives closely following. Devi and Tenna’s eyes slowly widen as it all unfolds before them.  
Once everything has quieted down, Squee’s trembling hands slowly take Shmee off his head. He opens his eyes and the first thing he sees is Johnny’s unmoving body and a puddle of blood, slowly being fed by the trickle running from his head and over his face.  
“Nny?” he squeaks pitifully. He swallows hard and says it a little louder. “Nny? Johnny!”  
No matter how many times he calls his name, Johnny doesn’t respond. Not even a twitch. Tears rush down Squee’s face as he hugs Shmee to his chest and stares at Johnny’s body.  
“No way,” Tenna whimpers, “did-did that really just happen?”  
“Johnny!” Devi shouts. The only thing keeping her from running in is the person that caused all this.  
Zoli pants as she lowers her gun and stares at Johnny’s unmoving body. She slips the gun back into her jacket and sighs.  
“Ah, I didn’t mean to kill him. I could get in big trouble for this,” she groans. Then her burning red eyes fall on Squee. “Well, maybe I’ll be forgiven if I hand you over.”  
Long, black tendrils suddenly grow out of her back and lash around angrily. Squee flinches when Zoli steps forward. The tendrils suddenly stop moving and point right at him.  
“The Nightmare hungers,” she purrs.  
Squee can’t move. His brain is shouting at him to run, but his body won’t listen. An ugly smirk appears on Zoli’s face as she steps around Johnny and strides over to him.  
Devi and Tenna watch it all from the doorway. But they can’t move either. They can only stare in fear at Zoli and the Nightmare’s appendages.


	28. Chapter 27

Unauthorized system shut down.  
Preparing system reboot.  
…  
Reboot unsuccessful.  
Preparing system termination.  
Fuck this.  
System error.  
System error.  
I’m not dead. Not yet. Not by her. Not in front of him.  
System corruption  
Warning. Warning.  
I’m in charge now.

Zoli smirks as she steps around Johnny’s body. The Nightmare’s appendages sticking out of her back seem to focus entirely on Squee. They wiggle with hunger.  
Squee is frozen to his spot on the floor. He clutches Shmee to his chest as his eyes lock with Zoli’s.  
“We have to help,” Tenna mutters.  
“How? She’s too strong for us,” Devi sighs as she stares at the floor, defeated.  
“Squee! Let me go! I can fight her!” Shmee snaps.  
“She’s too strong,” Squee says.  
“I… I can slow her down,” he insists.  
“Even if you could, she’d still find us later,” Squee states, “we can’t win.”  
“Right you are,” Zoli laughs, “it’s over for you. Resign to your fate!”  
She starts to charge forward but stops when she feels something grab her ankle. She looks down with annoyance which quickly dissolves to fear and surprise when she sees just what’s grabbed her.  
Johnny’s hand has lashed forward and has her leg in a death grip.  
Zoli’s eyes slowly follow Johnny’s arm to his face. It’s covered in so much blood she can’t get a good look at his expression.  
His left eye suddenly opens and focuses on her, his pupil constricting so much it’s practically invisible.  
He squeezes. Zoli screams as her ankle bone shatters to pieces. She falls flat on the floor, the Nightmare’s appendages disappearing from her back.  
Johnny peels his fingers off of her. She scrambles across the floor, trying to get away as he stumbles to his feet. He slouches over, panting heavily as blood drips from his face and splashes on the floor. He glares at Zoli and straightens his back before walking after her.  
He lifts his foot and slams it down on her left leg. She shrieks as her kneecap bursts.  
She still tries to get away, gripping the stone floor as she pathetically crawls like an injured insect. Johnny looks at her with pure contempt as he bends down and grabs her by her hair. He picks her up effortlessly and tosses her across the room. She slams against the wall and falls to the floor.  
Johnny marches over to her, picking up his knives along the way. He lifts her up by her hair again and pins her to the wall. He crosses his arms, placing the blades of his knives against either side of her neck.  
Zoli’s burning red eyes lock with his deep, black ones. She can’t help but shiver like a whipped animal when she sees no sense of humanity within those orbs.  
All she sees are the eyes of a beast.  
Johnny leans in close, so close that the blood from his face drips down hers, and snarls, “nobody fucks with Johnny C.”  
He uncrosses his arms, slicing through her neck like butter. Her head flies from her shoulders and bounces on the floor, along with the upside down cross from her damaged choker. Johnny crushes the cross with his foot as Zoli’s head dissipates into black smoke.  
It takes Devi, Tenna, and Squee a few seconds to catch up. It all just happened so fast and so suddenly. For all they know, they could’ve hallucinated it.  
But eventually they realize this is reality. They simultaneously rush forward and crowd around Johnny.  
“Johnny, are you okay?” Squee asks frantically.  
“Johnny, you did!” Devi exclaims, “you beat her! We’re free! You’re free.”  
Johnny doesn’t respond as his body slouches forward. Squee cocks his head to get a better look at his face. He looks… tired. Just plain exhausted.  
“Johnny?” he questions.  
“Freedom,” Johnny grunts, his voice low and quiet, like it’s taking a lot of energy to talk. “Yeah. That’s a… nice thought.”  
He suddenly falls back and slams onto the floor. They exclaim his name and kneel next to him. He’s unconscious.  
“Is he okay?” Squee asks.  
“He’s breathing,” Tenna replies, “but barely.”  
“We have to get out here!” Devi barks, “we have to get him to a hospital!”  
“We don’t even know where we are,” Tenna points out.  
“I can help.”  
They all jump and spin around at the voice. Pepito is standing on the other side of the room. He gingerly dusts himself off before facing the group.  
“Pepito?” Squee questions.  
“Where’d you come from?” Devi asks.  
“I just teleported here,” Pepito replies, “I would’ve came sooner but it took a long time to find you. The truth is you’re in Hell, a more deserted part of Hell to be specific. It seems the Nightmare molded this building with its powers to make it seem endless and big.”  
“I can teleport you back to the living world,” he explains, “all you have to do is hold onto me and I can take you wherever you want.”  
“Can you take us to a hospital in the city?” Devi asks, “the south hospital, to be specific.”  
“Fine,” he nods.  
“Good. Tenna, help me with Johnny,” she demands. The girls bend down and gently pick Johnny up, supporting him on their shoulders. Meanwhile, Squee walks up to Pepito.  
“Um… thanks for helping us,” he mutters.  
“Sure,” Pepito grunts. He notices the pile of gem shards on the floor and lifts an eyebrow.  
“Oh, sorry about that,” Squee says quickly, “I… I tried to use it but Johnny stopped me… and destroyed it.”  
“It’s fine,” Pepito shrugs, “I’m… actually glad he stopped you. It’s better this way.”  
Squee smiles in agreement.  
“Come on, come on. Let’s go,” Devi snaps as they carry over the unconscious Johnny.  
“Alright, everyone grab onto my arm,” Pepito demands as he holds out his arm. Devi, Tenna, and Squee quickly grab on. “And hold on tight. This may feel weird.”  
Squee’s stomach does about a million flips as black smoke envelopes them and they seem to disappear into darkness.

Squee, Devi, and Tenna fidget impatiently as they constantly glance at the door in front of them. They’re sitting on a bench in a hospital hallway. They’ve all been bandaged up from their previous fights. Squee wasn’t badly injured, just a couple scrapes and bruises; Devi and Tenna were worse, both of them retaining a couple deep scratches and gashes.  
Johnny is in the room across from them, being examined. They haven’t heard any news about his condition. But the doctors have been with him for hours.  
“Well… if it’s taking a long time… then he must be alive, right?” Tenna suggests.  
“Maybe they’re trying to keep him alive,” Devi mutters.  
Squee suppresses a whimper as he fiddles with Shmee’s arms. Shmee looks at him with sad eyes and gently squeezes his hand.  
The door suddenly opens and the doctor walks out with a troubled look on his face. The trio immediately jumps to their feet.  
“Is he okay?” they ask simultaneously.  
“He’s alive,” he replies.  
They sigh with relief.  
“Yes, it is a miracle,” the doctor nods, “in fact, his body seems to be doing fine. His heart rate and breathing are both normal and it doesn’t seem like the bullet did much damage.”  
“What? But he was shot square in the head,” Devi points out.  
“Yes. About that…” the doctor says thoughtfully. He reaches into the pocket of his coat and pulls out a plastic baggy. “We removed the bullet. And… it’s quite odd.”  
He shows them the contents of the bag: a tiny, metal disc with ridges along the side. It almost looks like a metal cylinder that was crushed.  
“That’s the bullet?” Tenna asks with disbelief.  
“Indeed,” the doctor nods, “it’s almost like when the bullet made contact with his skull, it couldn’t penetrate the surface, so the force of the gunshot caused it to collapse in on itself.”  
“That’s crazy,” Devi breathes.  
“One other thing,” the doctor says as he pulls out three sheets from his coat. “We took x-rays of your friend’s head.” He shows them the pictures. They’re different angles of Johnny’s skull. It seems normal enough, except for the two cracks on his forehead: one just over his left eye and one right in the middle.  
“These cracks indicate blows to his skull,” he explains, “judging by their similar size, I’d say they were both caused by gunshots.” He points to the middle of Johnny’s head. “This is where we removed the bullet. However, that crack seems a tad… rougher than it should be. Which suggests there was already a crack there before he was shot.”  
“Wait, are you saying he was shot in the head two more times before now?” Tenna asks.  
“I think it’s safe to assume that,” the doctor replies.  
The trio looks at each other curiously.  
“In any case,” he grunts as he puts the items back. “I would like to keep your friend here for further observation. And, with his permission, I would like to examine him further. I think his bones could possibly be stronger than any normal human’s. This could be an incredible research opportunity.”  
“We can’t,” Squee mutters, “who knows what he’ll do when he wakes up in a hospital.”  
“Yeah. And he ain’t gonna be some science project,” Devi snaps as she pushes by the doctor. “If he’s okay then we’re taking him home.”  
“You can’t! He needs to stay for further observation!” the doctor barks as she opens the door. “Wait, you can’t go in there!”  
Devi ignores him as she walks into the room. Squee and Tenna follow close behind. They all stop in the tracks.  
“You need to get out now,” the doctor snaps but stops. “Hey, where’d he go?”  
The only person in the room is a nurse, who looks busy writing on a clipboard. There is a hospital bed with the blankets bunched up at the end and a series of unplugged machines surrounding it, indicating that it was being used. But nobody’s in it.  
“Nurse! Where is the patient?” the doctor asks.  
The nurse looks at him, a visibly blank look at her face. “Patient? What do you mean- he’s gone! I didn’t even hear him get up!”  
They turn their attention to a nearby open window.  
“Did he jump? But we’re three stories up!” the doctor exclaims as he pokes his head out the window. He looks around but he sees no evidence of anyone jumping. Not even any blood on the concrete below.  
“This is terrible,” he cries, “we need to call the police.”  
“No need,” Devi states, “we’re done here.”  
“But… your friend.”  
“He’s fine,” Squee says as they turn and leave the room. The doctor shouts something after them but they ignore him as they enter the elevator.  
After Devi pays their hospital bill- which was quite expensive, she’ll have to work overtime at the café for months- they leave the hospital and walk down the street. They know exactly where they’re going. It’s a long walk but they don’t mind.  
“So… Johnny was shot three times,” Tenna says.  
“That dick’s got more lives than a fucking cat,” Devi scoffs.  
“But when was he shot? And why?” Tenna asks.  
“I think one of those times would’ve been when he died before,” Squee replies, “remember, when he went to both Heaven and Hell?”  
“Okay. But what about that third time?” Devi asks.  
“I don’t know. He never mentioned it,” Squee shrugs.  
“How about how the bullet was crushed against his skull?” Tenna laughs, “what the hell is he made of? Titanium?”  
“I don’t think he’s fully human,” Devi comments, “how else could he have survived jumping from a three story window? Especially with the injuries he had.”  
“Do you think he’s okay?” Squee asks, “what if he’s like… delusional from blood loss or something?”  
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Tenna replies.  
“But we should hurry,” Devi points out.  
They nod and quickly jog down through the streets to their destination.  
They arrive in a matter of minutes. They rush up the front walk without hesitation and burst through the front door of house number 777.  
Johnny is sitting on the couch in nothing but a pair of sweatpants and striped socks. His chest and arms are completely wrapped up in fresh bandages. There’s also fresh gauze wrapped around his forehead. He drinks from a bottle of cherry FizWiz as he watches the TV. He glances at Devi, Tenna, and Squee and sighs with exasperation.  
“Honestly. Doesn’t anyone know how to knock anymore?”


	29. Chapter 28

Unauthorized system shut down.  
Preparing system reboot.  
…  
Reboot unsuccessful.  
Preparing system termination.  
Fuck this.  
System error.  
System error.  
I’m not dead. Not yet. Not by her. Not in front of him.  
System corruption  
Warning. Warning.  
I’m in charge now.

Zoli smirks as she steps around Johnny’s body. The Nightmare’s appendages sticking out of her back seem to focus entirely on Squee. They wiggle with hunger.  
Squee is frozen to his spot on the floor. He clutches Shmee to his chest as his eyes lock with Zoli’s.  
“We have to help,” Tenna mutters.  
“How? She’s too strong for us,” Devi sighs as she stares at the floor, defeated.  
“Squee! Let me go! I can fight her!” Shmee snaps.  
“She’s too strong,” Squee says.  
“I… I can slow her down,” he insists.  
“Even if you could, she’d still find us later,” Squee states, “we can’t win.”  
“Right you are,” Zoli laughs, “it’s over for you. Resign to your fate!”  
She starts to charge forward but stops when she feels something grab her ankle. She looks down with annoyance which quickly dissolves to fear and surprise when she sees just what’s grabbed her.  
Johnny’s hand has lashed forward and has her leg in a death grip.  
Zoli’s eyes slowly follow Johnny’s arm to his face. It’s covered in so much blood she can’t get a good look at his expression.  
His left eye suddenly opens and focuses on her, his pupil constricting so much it’s practically invisible.  
He squeezes. Zoli screams as her ankle bone shatters to pieces. She falls flat on the floor, the Nightmare’s appendages disappearing from her back.  
Johnny peels his fingers off of her. She scrambles across the floor, trying to get away as he stumbles to his feet. He slouches over, panting heavily as blood drips from his face and splashes on the floor. He glares at Zoli and straightens his back before walking after her.  
He lifts his foot and slams it down on her left leg. She shrieks as her kneecap bursts.  
She still tries to get away, gripping the stone floor as she pathetically crawls like an injured insect. Johnny looks at her with pure contempt as he bends down and grabs her by her hair. He picks her up effortlessly and tosses her across the room. She slams against the wall and falls to the floor.  
Johnny marches over to her, picking up his knives along the way. He lifts her up by her hair again and pins her to the wall. He crosses his arms, placing the blades of his knives against either side of her neck.  
Zoli’s burning red eyes lock with his deep, black ones. She can’t help but shiver like a whipped animal when she sees no sense of humanity within those orbs.  
All she sees are the eyes of a beast.  
Johnny leans in close, so close that the blood from his face drips down hers, and snarls, “nobody fucks with Johnny C.”  
He uncrosses his arms, slicing through her neck like butter. Her head flies from her shoulders and bounces on the floor, along with the upside down cross from her damaged choker. Johnny crushes the cross with his foot as Zoli’s head dissipates into black smoke.  
It takes Devi, Tenna, and Squee a few seconds to catch up. It all just happened so fast and so suddenly. For all they know, they could’ve hallucinated it.  
But eventually they realize this is reality. They simultaneously rush forward and crowd around Johnny.  
“Johnny, are you okay?” Squee asks frantically.  
“Johnny, you did!” Devi exclaims, “you beat her! We’re free! You’re free.”  
Johnny doesn’t respond as his body slouches forward. Squee cocks his head to get a better look at his face. He looks… tired. Just plain exhausted.  
“Johnny?” he questions.  
“Freedom,” Johnny grunts, his voice low and quiet, like it’s taking a lot of energy to talk. “Yeah. That’s a… nice thought.”  
He suddenly falls back and slams onto the floor. They exclaim his name and kneel next to him. He’s unconscious.  
“Is he okay?” Squee asks.  
“He’s breathing,” Tenna replies, “but barely.”  
“We have to get out here!” Devi barks, “we have to get him to a hospital!”  
“We don’t even know where we are,” Tenna points out.  
“I can help.”  
They all jump and spin around at the voice. Pepito is standing on the other side of the room. He gingerly dusts himself off before facing the group.  
“Pepito?” Squee questions.  
“Where’d you come from?” Devi asks.  
“I just teleported here,” Pepito replies, “I would’ve came sooner but it took a long time to find you. The truth is you’re in Hell, a more deserted part of Hell to be specific. It seems the Nightmare molded this building with its powers to make it seem endless and big.”  
“I can teleport you back to the living world,” he explains, “all you have to do is hold onto me and I can take you wherever you want.”  
“Can you take us to a hospital in the city?” Devi asks, “the south hospital, to be specific.”  
“Fine,” he nods.  
“Good. Tenna, help me with Johnny,” she demands. The girls bend down and gently pick Johnny up, supporting him on their shoulders. Meanwhile, Squee walks up to Pepito.  
“Um… thanks for helping us,” he mutters.  
“Sure,” Pepito grunts. He notices the pile of gem shards on the floor and lifts an eyebrow.  
“Oh, sorry about that,” Squee says quickly, “I… I tried to use it but Johnny stopped me… and destroyed it.”  
“It’s fine,” Pepito shrugs, “I’m… actually glad he stopped you. It’s better this way.”  
Squee smiles in agreement.  
“Come on, come on. Let’s go,” Devi snaps as they carry over the unconscious Johnny.  
“Alright, everyone grab onto my arm,” Pepito demands as he holds out his arm. Devi, Tenna, and Squee quickly grab on. “And hold on tight. This may feel weird.”  
Squee’s stomach does about a million flips as black smoke envelopes them and they seem to disappear into darkness.

Squee, Devi, and Tenna fidget impatiently as they constantly glance at the door in front of them. They’re sitting on a bench in a hospital hallway. They’ve all been bandaged up from their previous fights. Squee wasn’t badly injured, just a couple scrapes and bruises; Devi and Tenna were worse, both of them retaining a couple deep scratches and gashes.  
Johnny is in the room across from them, being examined. They haven’t heard any news about his condition. But the doctors have been with him for hours.  
“Well… if it’s taking a long time… then he must be alive, right?” Tenna suggests.  
“Maybe they’re trying to keep him alive,” Devi mutters.  
Squee suppresses a whimper as he fiddles with Shmee’s arms. Shmee looks at him with sad eyes and gently squeezes his hand.  
The door suddenly opens and the doctor walks out with a troubled look on his face. The trio immediately jumps to their feet.  
“Is he okay?” they ask simultaneously.  
“He’s alive,” he replies.  
They sigh with relief.  
“Yes, it is a miracle,” the doctor nods, “in fact, his body seems to be doing fine. His heart rate and breathing are both normal and it doesn’t seem like the bullet did much damage.”  
“What? But he was shot square in the head,” Devi points out.  
“Yes. About that…” the doctor says thoughtfully. He reaches into the pocket of his coat and pulls out a plastic baggy. “We removed the bullet. And… it’s quite odd.”  
He shows them the contents of the bag: a tiny, metal disc with ridges along the side. It almost looks like a metal cylinder that was crushed.  
“That’s the bullet?” Tenna asks with disbelief.  
“Indeed,” the doctor nods, “it’s almost like when the bullet made contact with his skull, it couldn’t penetrate the surface, so the force of the gunshot caused it to collapse in on itself.”  
“That’s crazy,” Devi breathes.  
“One other thing,” the doctor says as he pulls out three sheets from his coat. “We took x-rays of your friend’s head.” He shows them the pictures. They’re different angles of Johnny’s skull. It seems normal enough, except for the two cracks on his forehead: one just over his left eye and one right in the middle.  
“These cracks indicate blows to his skull,” he explains, “judging by their similar size, I’d say they were both caused by gunshots.” He points to the middle of Johnny’s head. “This is where we removed the bullet. However, that crack seems a tad… rougher than it should be. Which suggests there was already a crack there before he was shot.”  
“Wait, are you saying he was shot in the head two more times before now?” Tenna asks.  
“I think it’s safe to assume that,” the doctor replies.  
The trio looks at each other curiously.  
“In any case,” he grunts as he puts the items back. “I would like to keep your friend here for further observation. And, with his permission, I would like to examine him further. I think his bones could possibly be stronger than any normal human’s. This could be an incredible research opportunity.”  
“We can’t,” Squee mutters, “who knows what he’ll do when he wakes up in a hospital.”  
“Yeah. And he ain’t gonna be some science project,” Devi snaps as she pushes by the doctor. “If he’s okay then we’re taking him home.”  
“You can’t! He needs to stay for further observation!” the doctor barks as she opens the door. “Wait, you can’t go in there!”  
Devi ignores him as she walks into the room. Squee and Tenna follow close behind. They all stop in the tracks.  
“You need to get out now,” the doctor snaps but stops. “Hey, where’d he go?”  
The only person in the room is a nurse, who looks busy writing on a clipboard. There is a hospital bed with the blankets bunched up at the end and a series of unplugged machines surrounding it, indicating that it was being used. But nobody’s in it.  
“Nurse! Where is the patient?” the doctor asks.  
The nurse looks at him, a visibly blank look at her face. “Patient? What do you mean- he’s gone! I didn’t even hear him get up!”  
They turn their attention to a nearby open window.  
“Did he jump? But we’re three stories up!” the doctor exclaims as he pokes his head out the window. He looks around but he sees no evidence of anyone jumping. Not even any blood on the concrete below.  
“This is terrible,” he cries, “we need to call the police.”  
“No need,” Devi states, “we’re done here.”  
“But… your friend.”  
“He’s fine,” Squee says as they turn and leave the room. The doctor shouts something after them but they ignore him as they enter the elevator.  
After Devi pays their hospital bill- which was quite expensive, she’ll have to work overtime at the café for months- they leave the hospital and walk down the street. They know exactly where they’re going. It’s a long walk but they don’t mind.  
“So… Johnny was shot three times,” Tenna says.  
“That dick’s got more lives than a fucking cat,” Devi scoffs.  
“But when was he shot? And why?” Tenna asks.  
“I think one of those times would’ve been when he died before,” Squee replies, “remember, when he went to both Heaven and Hell?”  
“Okay. But what about that third time?” Devi asks.  
“I don’t know. He never mentioned it,” Squee shrugs.  
“How about how the bullet was crushed against his skull?” Tenna laughs, “what the hell is he made of? Titanium?”  
“I don’t think he’s fully human,” Devi comments, “how else could he have survived jumping from a three story window? Especially with the injuries he had.”  
“Do you think he’s okay?” Squee asks, “what if he’s like… delusional from blood loss or something?”  
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Tenna replies.  
“But we should hurry,” Devi points out.  
They nod and quickly jog down through the streets to their destination.  
They arrive in a matter of minutes. They rush up the front walk without hesitation and burst through the front door of house number 777.  
Johnny is sitting on the couch in nothing but a pair of sweatpants and striped socks. His chest and arms are completely wrapped up in fresh bandages. There’s also fresh gauze wrapped around his forehead. He drinks from a bottle of cherry FizWiz as he watches the TV. He glances at Devi, Tenna, and Squee and sighs with exasperation.  
“Honestly. Doesn’t anyone know how to knock anymore?”


	30. Chapter 29

It’s a slow day in Café Latte. Probably because it’s eleven o’clock on a Monday. All of the regulars are at school or work; it’s too late breakfast and too early for lunch. Currently there are only three customers in the restaurant and two of them were dragged here so Devi could keep an eye on them, even on her first day back to work.  
It’s been over a week since the battle with the Nightmare ended, and Johnny’s head wound has healed up nicely. He’s still got a bit of gash so Squee insisted he wear a Band-Aid over it so it won’t get infected. It’s obviously gonna scar, but he doesn’t mind. It’ll match the one over his left eye.  
Johnny’s eyes trail over the table to the boy sitting across from him before quickly look away. There’s an awkward air surrounding the two of them as they both focus on their incredibly interesting meals, even though neither of has taken a single bite.  
Meanwhile a gaggle of females are clustered by the pick-up window, quietly judging their actions like they’re watching a soup opera.  
“One of them has gotta do it,” Tenna says.  
“They’re both too cowardly,” Jade scoffs.  
“She’s right. They’re not gonna do it,” Payton agrees.  
“They have to,” Piper argues.  
“Maybe we can help them,” Samantha suggests.  
“No,” Devi says curtly, “helping them will defeat the purpose. They need each other; they just don’t know it because they’re both emotionally unstable. If we help them then it won’t make them any stronger.”  
“Devi’s right,” Nana nods, “they have to do this on their own.”  
“But they won’t do it,” Jade snaps.  
“Shut up,” Tenna hisses, “he’ll hear us.”  
Johnny’s ears prick up at the girls’ chirping but he can’t quite make it out because of the music playing over the radio. Oh, well. It’s probably better he doesn’t hear it.  
Squee subtly looks up at Johnny before looking back down at his food. He glances at Shmee, who’s sitting in his lap. He looks up at him with his big, white eyes and smiles reassuringly. Squee sighs and scratches his head.  
Both he and Johnny agreed that they would stop living together after they beat the Nightmare. It’s been a week already. If Johnny was going to kick him out, he probably would’ve done it already. Nevertheless, Squee still needs to be sure. All he has to do is gather up enough courage.  
He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “Um… Johnny?”  
Johnny looks up at him questionably.  
“Er… I was just thinking… um I know we agreed my living with you would be temporary,” Squee stammers, “but uh but I don’t really have anywhere else to go and I can’t exactly live on my own. So… could-could I maybe stay with you a little while longer? At least until I can live on my own?”  
Johnny blinks with surprise but quickly composes his apathetic self. But he is surprised: surprised at the question, surprised that Squee brought it up, and surprised that he was thinking the exact same thing.  
“There will be a few rules,” Johnny replies. Squee looks up at him with astonishment.  
“First: this will not be a guardian relationship. We are roommates, nothing more,” Johnny explains, “so you will take care of yourself, clean up after yourself, feed yourself, all that stuff. Second: the basement is still off limits. I would say you can’t throw any parties or anything, but you’re not really the type to do that so it doesn’t matter.”  
“You can stay in the room you’re in now. I’ll set myself up in the other room,” he concludes as he puts his focus back on his food.  
Is this really the best idea? I just want to protect him, and in practice it seems the best way to do that is to keep him close. But what if I just cause him more trouble? I am incredibly dangerous. What if the best way to protect him is to keep him as far away as possible? What if I end up hurting him?  
Thoughts like these constantly swim around Johnny’s head until he happens to glance up and notices Squee staring at him. He sees those big, sparkling brown eyes and wide, shining smile and all of his worries wash away like rain water.  
Johnny looks away, completely overwhelmed by the amount of pure happiness radiating from the boy’s face. “Quit staring at me like that,” he grunts. Squee looks back at his food, but the smile doesn’t leave his face.  
Johnny looks at him and swallows hard. He hugged him during his fight with Zoli, but he was pretty delirious and everything was happening so fast. He barely remembers what happened during the whole fight.  
He slowly lifts his trembling hand and reaches across the table. His arm suddenly stops and his fingers curl in, like they’re hitting an invisible wall. He squeezes his eyes shut and stays frozen there for a few seconds.  
Oh, just touch the damn kid!  
His arm lashes forward and he plants his hand on Squee’s head before quickly withdrawing. It was only there for a split second and could barely be considered a full pat, and yet it fills Squee with absolute elation.  
He looks up at Johnny and smiles brightly. Johnny looks down so no one will see the light blush dusting his cheeks.  
Across the room, the girls burst with ‘aaaawwww’ and giggle incessantly, earning a harsh glare from Johnny.  
“Alright, show’s over,” Nana snaps, “everyone back to work. The lunch rush is gonna start soon. I want everyone to give their A-game.”  
“Right,” the waitresses salute before splitting up. Tenna returns to the table and sits next to Squee, wrapping her arm around the boy’s shoulders.  
“Now that the room’s officially yours, we oughta spruce it up a bit, don’t you think?” she asks.  
“Huh?” Johnny grunts.  
“It’s so boring the way it is now,” Tenna insists, “he needs things. Like… toys, clothes, posters. Oh! A giant stereo! And a huge bay window!”  
“No fucking way,” Johnny snaps. She just laughs.  
Devi appears at his side and smirks as she steals a couple of his fries. “Tenna’s right. He could use a window. Or some cool accent lights. And a new bed.”  
Johnny glares at her. Devi just winks as she walks to the front door.  
He snarls and glances at Squee. Tenna’s blabbering on to him about multiple things he can put in his new bedroom, but he’s barely listening. He looks at Johnny and smiles. Johnny’s heart lurches and he quickly looks away.  
These three are so weird. They no longer seem bothered by Johnny’s glare or snarls, which usually sends most people running. But that boy sitting across from him is the weirdest. That boy, who can ruin a perfectly good bad mood; who can read Johnny like a picture book; who freed all of his previously locked up emotions. That boy, who burst through his unbreakable wall and made himself at home.  
Nana suddenly appears beside Johnny and looks at him sceptically. Johnny meets her glare head-on.  
“Having a kid around will change things, whether you like it or not,” she warns, “do you think you can handle it? You won’t regret it later, will you?”  
Johnny blinks and looks at Squee. Squee looks back, a slight look of anxiety in his eyes.  
“No,” he replies, “it’s not a bad thing.”  
“Good then,” Nana nods and walks away.  
Squee smiles at him. Johnny has to take a bite of his fries to hide the small smile creeping its way onto his face.  
Yeah. It’s not a bad thing.


	31. Chapter 30

Dear Die-ary,  
It’s been a long time. Last time I wrote an entry I had said I wanted to be cold and emotionless. I don’t think I accomplished that, but that’s okay.  
I’ve learned a lot in the past few weeks. One of the most important lessons I learned is that everyone experiences different realities. Some people may live the same reality their whole life; others may experience many different realities throughout the course of their life. I’m the latter. I’ve had many different realities in the few years I actually remember, and probably many more in the years I don’t. However, this current reality seems to be the most… bizarre.  
Lots of new things have been happening. For example, I have a kid living with me now. Squee is officially my roommate. It’s not so bad. He’s taken care of himself his whole life so I don’t really have to worry about anything. Plus he really curbs my loneliness. It’s nice having someone to watch cartoons with, especially when he enjoys them as much as I do.  
But the weirdest thing would probably be how much time I’ve been spending with Devi and Tenna. I actually didn’t realize it until today. We didn’t do much. Devi was working so Tenna, Squee, and I went to Café Latte and pretty much spent the whole day there. And when Devi got off, we stopped at a convenience store to buy junk food then went to my place where we watched cartoons and played video games until like midnight. When the girls left, I realized we’ve been doing that a lot lately. Not that exact routine; just spending lots of time together.  
Obviously it’s normal for me to spend lots of time with Squee since we live together, but what’s the deal with the girls? Does this mean we’re… friends? But why would they be friends with me? I wasn’t sure how to feel about this realization, until I noticed something else.  
Reverend Meat is back.  
I saw him on my dresser. He wasn’t moving or talking. He was just standing there as an inanimate object. Just to be safe, I smashed him on the floor. But he reappeared not long after, in the same spot on my dresser.  
Does this mean the Nightmare isn’t through with me yet? Is Reverend Meat its way of keeping an eye on me? I don’t think its terrorizing anyone else. Squee, Devi, or Tenna haven’t said anything, and I’m pretty sure they would. So I guess I really am just the Nightmare’s toy.  
But then I had my biggest realization ever. If being the Nightmare’s slave for eternity is all it takes to make sure Tenna, Devi, and Squee stay safe, then I’ll gladly do it. I’ll gladly trade my freedom for theirs. I guess this means I really do care for them. So I guess it’s okay to call them my friends.  
A couple of days ago Devi and Tenna told me that when I was in the hospital, the doctor told them I had three cracks in my skull, all caused by gunshots. I remember two of them: one being from when I accidently killed myself, the other from Zoli. But what about that third? I don’t recall ever getting shot before my somewhat successful suicide, and I never had a scar on my forehead before that time. So I concluded that it occurred during one of my past realities.  
I don’t remember most of my past, and what I do remember I didn’t enjoy. But these past few weeks have been quite… delightful. I won’t go so far as to say I’ve achieved perfect happiness; I still have plenty of problems and bad days. But I have been having lots of fun lately, and for the most part I enjoy being with Devi, Tenna, and Squee. So maybe it’s okay if I just ignore my doubts and worries.  
I think it’s about time I started enjoying my reality.


End file.
